Missing Elderly Woman Found Safe After Night In The Woods

LEE COUNTY, MISS. (WCBI) –  The search for an 82-year-old Lee County woman who wandered from her home has a happy ending.

An alert sheriff’s deputy was walking along a creek around 10 Tuesday morning, when something caught his eye.

“”It was full of water, just very fortunate that there was some movement by Mrs Langford that allowed the deputy to see where she was at,  we were able to get her out of the creek, brought her to the road,” said Lee County Sheriff Jim Johnson.

The sheriff says Lizzie Langford was cold, but otherwise fine. Family members told authorities the 82-year-old suffers from early stages of dementia and had left her home on County Road 1147 around 11 Monday morning, on foot.

“This lady here, when I talked to her a few minutes ago, she was going on a fishing trip, everything is normality to them,” Sheriff Johnson said.

Sheriff Johnson knows that taking care of a family member suffering from dementia can be a sensitive issue, but the Sheriff says there are steps family members can take to lessen the risks.

“We encourage people, that whenever they see these signs come about, that they take proper steps to protect them, a lot of times it’s against the patient’s will, last thing you want to do is take a vehicle away from them, or things of that nature, but you got to consider the alternative, this could have turned out a lot different,” the sheriff said.

Although they didn’t want to go on camera, friends of Ms Langford wanted to thank authorities, volunteer fire departments and other concerned citizens who took part in the search.

Sheriff Johnson also encourages those with family members suffering from dementia to never leave them alone.