A missing 78-year-old woman with probable undiagnosed dementia triggered a search and rescue mission on Sunday in Marin County. The Central Marin Police Department sought the assistance of Marin County Search and Rescue at 3:50 PM after the woman had last been seen at 10:00 AM the previous day.
Despite a delay in reporting her disappearance by the family—who waited a full 24 hours under the misunderstanding that such was standard procedure—a robust response was mustered. Joining the search were 50 members of Marin SAR, the Central Marin Fire Department, and several other agencies, including sheriff's deputies and volunteers.
In a post on their official Facebook page, Marin SAR reported that a K9 team discovered the missing senior. She was hidden in brush and standing against a fence, out of direct sight. The rescue, occurring around 6 PM, concluded 32 hours of fruitless searching.
After her discovery, the woman was evaluated on-site by fire crews and subsequently transported to the hospital. Missing for over a day, she was found to be in a generally good physical state. The successful outcome was attributed to the efficient coordination between all participating entities, with the use of CalTopo for managing the search efforts noted for enabling live tracking of the rescue teams as they scoured the area.
