Sheriff's office: Multijurisdictional effort leads to location of missing elderly woman in Midland

An elderly Midland woman who was reported missing was found safe Tuesday after multijurisdictional search efforts.

The Fauquier County Sheriff’s Office stated in a news release that at approximately 2:45 p.m. Tuesday the county’s communications center received a 911 call from a caregiver who said she found the front door of an elderly woman’s home open and the woman missing.

Deputies responded to the home in the area of Tower Hill Road and Twin Oaks Drive, according to the sheriff's office, and the rescue effort began with a call to the Virginia Department of Emergency Management, Emergency Operations Center in Richmond, which dispatched several search and rescue teams.

Alert Fauquier notifications were also distributed, and K9 teams searched the area.

“By 6:00 pm, the Stafford County Sheriff’s Office arrived to assist and checked locations familiar to the missing woman, six [search and rescue] teams were deployed, including Department of Wildlife Resources personnel, and as neighbors noted a helicopter from Customs and Border Protection was flying search patterns above the probable search areas,” the release stated.

Drones were also used, including from the Manassas Police Department.

“At 8:04 pm one of the search and rescue teams radioed that [the missing woman] was located deep in the woods within walking distance of her house,” the release stated.

The Midland resident was reported to be in good condition and was transferred to a hospital in Warrenton.

The sheriff’s office, in the release, thanked citizens, local churches and surrounding jurisdictions and agencies for their assistance in the search.