Sheriff Jody Dotson today announced that a 28 year old missing Strawberry man missing since Wednesday evening was found by Lawrence County Sheriff’s Deputy around 7:30 am on Thursday morning after a brief search. The unidentified male was said to have a mental handicap according to family members and wandered from the home.
A Sheriff’s Deputy was dispatched to the area in in Strawberry after family called 911 and reported the young man had wandered off and not returned, the deputy responded to the area and searched until daylight. Once the sun came up, the Lawrence County Sheriff’s Dive Team, Lawrence County Sheriff’s Mounted Patrol, Strawberry Volunteer Fire Department and Arkansas State Parks Representatives were notified and responded to the Strawberry Ball Field and began a sweep of the area. Investigators began a formal interview of the family trying to amass as much information on the missing man as possible.
Around 7:30 am, Deputy Jeremy Riggs was searching an area around the school campus and noticed a person matching the description walking on the campus, Deputy Riggs made contact and identified the person as the missing 28 year old. The person told the deputy he had crawled into a drain culvert and spent the night there unaware that family and officers were searching for him.
Sheriff Dotson accompanied the deputy and the man back to the residence of his family where he was greeted by worried family members. The man was unharmed according to Sheriff Dotson.
Sheriff Dotson extended a “Thank You†to locals in the community, Lawrence County Mounted Patrol, Lawrence County Dive Team members, Strawberry Fire Department members and representatives from both the Powhattan State Park and Lake Charles State Park for the assistance in the search.
For more information on the Lawrence County Sheriff’s Office visit www.
