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Polk Deputies Use Infrared To Locate Missing Man

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By Joe  Seelig | Highlands Today

Published: December 6, 2007

SEBRING - A 67-year-old man who was reported missing in the area of White Cedar Road was located about 7 p.m. Wednesday in a thicket by a Polk County Sheriff's Office helicopter using infrared technology.

The man was new to the area, sheriff's Lt. Jess Purvis said on Thursday.

"He's only been here about a month," Purvis said. "He moved up here from Miami."

Purvis said the man's caretaker called the sheriff's office about 4:30 p.m. Wednesday and reported he had been missing since about 2 p.m.

Deputies immediately began searching the area, and a reverse 911 call went out to the neighborhood, which is about a block from Wolf Lake near State Road 66.

"People were out looking immediately," Purvis said.

Two bloodhound teams were sent to the area, and about eight other sheriff's deputies joined in the search, Purvis said.

Using the helicopter's infrared device, the missing man was found in some thick scrubland about 50 yards behind his home.

The sheriff's office shift change was scheduled for 6 p.m., but Purvis said he held back his entire squad.
"It was getting dark, and it was starting to get cold," he said.

After he was located, the man was checked out by Highlands County Emergency Medical Services personnel and was transported to Highlands Regional Hospital.

His caretaker has an appointment to have him evaluated medically at a veterans hospital, Purvis said. He had never been missing while living in Miami, the caretaker told investigators.

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