Kershaw County bloodhound team locates missing 84-year-old man

Kershaw County Sheriff’s Office bloodhounds located an 84-year-old man who was reported missing from his Cassatt-area home Sunday afternoon.

Sheriff Jim Matthews said Kershaw County sheriff’s deputies were notified at 11 a.m. that the elderly man had walked away from his residence in the Cassatt area, which is roughly 14 miles northwest of Camden. Further information provided to deputies revealed the man suffered from serious health issues.

Matthews said a bloodhound team responded to the man’s residence and was supplemented by a South Carolina Law Enforcement Division helicopter team. Bloodhounds and handlers began tracking in the area surrounding the missing man’s home and, after nearly two and a half hours of searching, the bloodhounds located him in a wooded area not far from his home. The man was lying under a tree to get out of the sun.

Matthews said bloodhound handlers determined the man had wandered away from his home before circling back.

When emergency personnel located him, the man was disoriented, barely able to talk or walk and was suffering from heat exhaustion, Matthews said. Deputies were able to get him into an air-conditioned patrol car before seeing EMS workers. Deputies then transported the man back to his home where his wife was waiting.

“I’ve got to give it to the bloodhound team. More often than not they find their subject, whether it be a missing child, vulnerable adult or criminal,” Matthews said. “The deputies who make up this team are extremely dedicated, and they serve the public well. [T]he dogs do a great job, too.”