K-9 Helps Police Find Missing Woman

Police say a K-9 unit helped avert a tragedy by finding an elderly, mentally unstable woman who had wandered away from her home Wednesday night.

The 82-year-old woman was suffering from the early stages of hypothermia when Ptl. Jim Clark and K-9 Nero found her shortly after 2 a.m. this morning off Lower Landing Road.

The woman, who is battling dementia, was reported missing from her home on the 300 block of Oak Avenue, in Blackwood, at about 11 p.m. Wednesday.

Clark and K-9 Nero located the woman, whom police are not identifying, lying on the ground in the fetal position about a 1/4 mile from her home, on the 340 block of Lower Landing Road. She was cold, scared and confused, according to police, but was unharmed and is expected to make a full recovery.

For more information on Alzheimer's disease and associated wandering concerns, visit the Alzheimer's Association website or contact police at communityrelations@gtpolice.com.