Video: Update: “A Miracle” as Missing Woman Found Safe

Lena Harrell
Source: Oktibbeha County Sheriff’s Office

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OKTIBBEHA COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI) — A 24-hour search for an elderly Oktibbeha County woman has come to an end.

Eighty-three-year-old Lena Mae Harrell was last seen by her family Tuesday morning about 11 a.m. at her home in the Osborne community about two miles from East Oktibbeha Elementary.

Off-duty sheriff’s deputy Todd Salmon was following a grid search pattern on his four-wheeler about a mile and a half from her home when he spotted tracks at about 2 p.m. Wednesday and followed them to the woman.

She was dry and safe but couldn’t tell searchers how or where she had spent the night in the woods. She appeared to be dehydrated and said she was hungry but other than that appeared well. She was taken to the OCH Regional Medical Center to be checked out.

“For them to team up the way that they did and the community that pulled together was great,” said her son Andre Harrell. “It was wonderful. I saw something. And if you want to see the work of the Lord. Miracle. It was a miracle. For her to be gone 24 hours and come home safe. It was like being a kid again, just hugs and kisses…it was a miracle.”

Family members say she suffers from dementia and was probably walking near her home

The Oktibbeha County Sheriff’s Department, volunteer firefighters from throughout Oktibbeha County, the Columbus Fire Department, Webster County Search and Rescue, MSU Police Department, two privately owned drones, a privately owned search dog and numerous other volunteers helped with the search. In addition, food was supplied by The Little Dooey, OSERVS and Chick-Filet

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STARKVILLE, Miss. (WCBI) – The Oktibbeha County Sheriff’s Department is asking for the Public’s help to find a woman who was last seen Tuesday morning.

Lena Harrell, 83, was last seen around 11 AM at her home in the Osborne Community.

Harrell suffers from dementia and is on medication.

If you have any information on her whereabouts, call the Oktibbeha County Sheriff’s Department at 662-323-2421.