A senior citizen diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease who had walked away from his residence on Andrew Sapp Road was found safe early Monday morning.

The Southern Boone Fire Department led the search of the area that involved as many as 40 fire volunteers as well as the Cole County Emergency Management team.

An Endangered Silver Advisory Alert was issued on Sunday, August 5 at 6 p.m. for James (Jim) Mathew North. The alert advised that North was believed to have walked away from the Andrew Sapp Road residence with his yellow Labrador retriever, “Bella.”

According to Southern Boone Fire spokesman Roger Jaeger, fire personnel searched the home and various buildings nearby before searching the ridge line in the area northwest of Ashland.

“It is a very rugged area and it was getting dark,” said Jaeger. “We had five crews searching, but by this time, he had been out there a few hours.”

~ Find out more in today’s Journal ~

By Bruce Wallace