An 83-year-old Brantley woman who was reported missing Saturday night was found a few miles from her home.
Edna Ruth Walker was reported missing once her daughter, Threesia Walker Hayden, had returned home and was unable to find her mother within the residence.
Family members and neighbors were contacted for a search, in which the area surrounding the residence was searched thoroughly, but to no avail.
“With this information and no reason to believe she left the residence by vehicle, the decision was made to search the woods behind the residence,” said Deputy Mason Adcock, a responding officer on the call.
The entire search took roughly four hours, and the search could’ve taken much longer without the aid of several individuals.
“Game Warden Brad Gavins and his search dog were a tremendous help,” Adcock added.
“As we were grid searching, he was able to move ahead and search for tracks with his dog.  If we were to have to work the grid from the point we started at to where we found her, it would’ve taken at least three times that long, if not more. “
Personnel from the Brantley, Luverne, Glenwood and Dozier fire departments and the Brantley Rescue Squad and Crenshaw County E-911 aided in the search.
According to Adcock, the Crenshaw County E-911 workers in particular were the unsung heroes of the evening.
“We can do everything we’ve got to do on the ground or in the woods or wherever we’re at, but if we don’t have people with communications to make phone calls for us, it just doesn’t work,” Adcock added.
“If I called them once, I called them a hundred times telling them to call this person, and call that person.  They sit up there in that little room with the doors closed and no one ever sees them and they work their butts off.  They’re as much a part of it as we are out there on the ground.”
Adcock received a call from the Spring Hill Fire Department a little after 11 p.m. stating that the track team had located Walker in good health and good spirits, though mildly dehydrated.
“It’s not out of the ordinary for her to walk some of the roads back there with the family,” Adcock said.
“We believe she got back there, lost her way and got turned around because she was alone.”
Once found, the Brantley Rescue Squad checked her and transported her to the Crenshaw Community Hospital for further treatment, where she was later released.