At 1:52PM Central Time on Tuesday, October 13, 2020 the Adair County E-911 Center received a call of a missing 4 year old female child from a residence in the 6900 block of Greensburg Road. The child had last been seen in the back yard of the residence where she was in care of her grandmother. It was suspected that the child had walked off with 2 dogs as they had been in the yard playing. After a brief unsuccessful search for the child, the grandmother called 911.
Within minutes of the initial call the first arriving units began hasty searches of the suspected travel pathways. Responders arriving spread out to assigned tasks and deployed equipment to assist in the search. Numerous members of the community came to aid in the search on foot and with UTV/ATV’s. K-9 officers Matt and Nitro were on scene and assisting in the woods and fields. The terrain was mixed between woodland with steep grades and waterways to cropland.
As the search continued it was determined that the dogs had returned to the residence without the child. This of course was cause for concern given the lay of the land and the age of the girl. Thankfully at 2:44PM on Tuesday a Deputy Sheriff notified dispatch that the child had been located on Roy Garrison Road. The Deputy was with a volunteer searcher who had located the child hiding behind an air conditioning unit at a residence on Roy Garrison Road.
The child was not injured and was now safe. As the crow flies the child was located 0.37 miles from the point last seen but the actual travel path could have been around a mile. With the large number of spontaneous volunteer searchers dispersing quickly it was difficult to determine the amount of people and equipment that assisted in the search. One prior law enforcement volunteer on scene estimated more than 50 searchers were involved. First responders from Adair County Sheriff Office, Columbia City Police, Adair EMS, Breeding Fire Department Technical Rescue Team, Columbia - Adair County Fire Department, Adair County Emergency Management and 2 Drone Pilots skilled in search were also on scene. A mention must be made of our skilled dispatchers at Adair County E-911 who handled the initial call, multiple agencies radio traffic, other emergency calls and managed to provide 9 pages of call notes specific to this incident.
A simple statement or press release is unable to communicate the gratitude I have for everyone that came to the aid of this 4 year old girl today. Thank you to all!
Mike Keltner
Director,
Adair Co. Emergency Management
107 N High Street
Columbia, KY 42728
