The tracking skills of Yuma Sector Border Patrol agents helped sheriff's deputies find a 75-year-old woman missing since Monday night.
According to Capt. Eben Bratcher of the Yuma County Sheriff's Office, the woman was last seen Monday evening, but her family continued searching for her until Tuesday morning, when they finally contacted YCSO.
Agent Robert Lowry of the Yuma Sector Communications Division said the Border Patrol received a missing persons alert from YCSO at about 9:20 a.m. stating that a 75-year-old woman suffering from dementia and amnesia was last seen driving a 1995 gray Honda Accord near Dateland.
About one hour later, Wellton Station agents who were patrolling in the area located the vehicle near Hyder and Painted Rock Road. Agents tracked footprints from the vehicle for 300 yards where they found the missing woman dehydrated and disoriented.
“It is pretty far out there and very remote,” Lowry said.
“When she was found in the desert, she had probably been out there for about five hours,” Bratcher added.
The woman was immediately treated by emergency medical services then flown to a Phoenix hospital for further evaluation and treatment.
Also Tuesday, agents seized more than 160 pounds of marijuana found abandoned in the desert.
Lowry said Wellton Station agents were patrolling through Davidson Canyon when they discovered eight bundles of marijuana abandoned south of Papago Wells. “It is a known area smugglers use to transport drugs and illegal aliens that agents routinely patrol.”
The marijuana, worth an estimated $82,800, was seized for destruction.
James Gilbert can be reached at jgilbert@yumasun.com or 539-6854.
According to Capt. Eben Bratcher of the Yuma County Sheriff's Office, the woman was last seen Monday evening, but her family continued searching for her until Tuesday morning, when they finally contacted YCSO.
Agent Robert Lowry of the Yuma Sector Communications Division said the Border Patrol received a missing persons alert from YCSO at about 9:20 a.m. stating that a 75-year-old woman suffering from dementia and amnesia was last seen driving a 1995 gray Honda Accord near Dateland.
About one hour later, Wellton Station agents who were patrolling in the area located the vehicle near Hyder and Painted Rock Road. Agents tracked footprints from the vehicle for 300 yards where they found the missing woman dehydrated and disoriented.
“It is pretty far out there and very remote,” Lowry said.
“When she was found in the desert, she had probably been out there for about five hours,” Bratcher added.
The woman was immediately treated by emergency medical services then flown to a Phoenix hospital for further evaluation and treatment.
Also Tuesday, agents seized more than 160 pounds of marijuana found abandoned in the desert.
Lowry said Wellton Station agents were patrolling through Davidson Canyon when they discovered eight bundles of marijuana abandoned south of Papago Wells. “It is a known area smugglers use to transport drugs and illegal aliens that agents routinely patrol.”
The marijuana, worth an estimated $82,800, was seized for destruction.
James Gilbert can be reached at jgilbert@yumasun.com or 539-6854.
