Missing person found alive after 4 days

A Cedar county resident who has been missing since Thursday, March 26, was found Monday morning and was life flighted to a Joplin hospital. According to Sheriff’s Office officials, dispatch received a report Saturday afternoon of a possible missing person near the area of Zodiac and 2925 Rd in Vernon County. Responding deputies learned that no one had been in contact with the missing person since the previous Thursday afternoon. He was believed be hunting for mushrooms and never returned.

Multiple agencies were notified and called out to assist the Sheriff’s Office in the search that lasted Saturday evening, all day Sunday and into Monday. The Sheriff’s Office requested the Vernon County Ambulance District Search and Rescue Team, Missouri State Highway Patrol, and the Missouri Conservation Department.

According to officials, a Missouri State Highway Patrol helicopter spotted what they believed to be a person in a field approximately 150 yards from a river. Vernon County Sheriff Jason Mosher and Detective Nick Norval were in the area conducting a search along the river and located the person while in contact with the helicopter. Sheriff Mosher said the person was in and out of consciousness and extremely dehydrated when they got to him. A Med Flight helicopter landed in the field because it was too far from any road to get a vehicle to him. He was then transported the to Freeman Hospital in Joplin. The Sheriff said they were extremely grateful to have an outcome like this, “this isn’t the outcome we normally have after someone has been missing in the woods for four days.” The Sheriff said he wanted to thank all the responding agencies and volunteers who helped during the search but wanted to especially thank the pilots who spotted the missing person. “If they hadn’t spotted him when they did, this may have been a completely different outcome, so I hope they know they saved a life today” said Mosher.