NC deputies use drone to find missing elderly person

ASHEBORO, NC (WTVD) — The Randolph County Sheriff’s Office is receiving praises after they used a drone to help locate a missing woman with dementia.

According to The Courier-Tribune, the 81-year-old woman was found Sunday morning, unharmed, in a cornfield several hundred feet from her home on Thayer Road.

K9 officers and a sheriff’s office drone operator were called in to aid in the search which was slowed because of difficult terrain and a rather large cornfield.

The drone’s pilot, officer Adam Krolfifer, was able to locate the missing woman within 25 minutes.

Krolfifer told The Courier-Tribune it was the woman’s brightly colored jacket, which stuck out among the stalks, that helped him locate her.

“I let out a ‘yee-ha – yes,”‘ he said. “The family came running over, ‘Did you find her?’ This was exciting to me. It was just one of those moments.”

The drone program was recently implemented at the sheriff’s office, a program the Randolph County sheriff Robert A. Graves couldn’t be more proud of.

“The Drone program at the Sheriff’s Office is one of our newest projects and one more project in our effort of going from “Good to Great” in professional community service,” Graves said in a Facebook post which highlighted the footage and the department’s hard work. “I am thankful to hear the good news of the safe return of the missing person. The family expressed their gratitude for the quick response. I am very proud of all of our team in making this safe return. Keep up the great work!”