Missing 93-year-old woman found in Sumner County by drone

GALLATIN, Tenn. (WSMV) – The Sumner County Emergency Management Agency turned to technology to help find a missing 93-year-old woman.

The woman was reported missing and found shortly after in an overgrown field using a drone.

“Time was of the essence, especially in situations like this,” said Ken Weidner, Sumner County Emergency Management Director.

Weidner said a 93-year-old woman with Alzheimer's disease was reported missing from her home.

“We responded to the scene with the Sumner County Sheriff, Sumner EMS and volunteer firefighters from that community,” said Deputy Chief Mickey Summers.

Moments later, Summers said he took out his drone.

“I launched a drone and within a minute I had her located through thermal imaging from the camera itself,” Summers said. “Before I said, ‘Hey, I got her,’ I flew to her location and turned on the live camera to make sure that was what I was looking at before I radioed it,” Summers said.

Summer's drone camera captured footage of the woman with her walker stuck in the middle of an overgrown field.

“It’s a really nice feeling, especially when you can do it so quickly. I was surprised because I literally threw the drone,” Summers said.

He used this drone to lead the search team to his exact location.

“I was actually the first one to get to her and she was trying to walk forward, and I said, ‘Miss Betty, are you okay?’ and she said, ‘Yes, sir,’ and I asked her, ‘Where are you going?’ and she said, ‘I’m going over there.’ I asked her if we could go to her house, and she said yes, we could go to her house,” Weidner said.

The county has used drones to find 12 missing people since the program began.

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