Crime & Safety
Bloodhound Leads Rescuers to Missing Elderly Dementia Patient
A District Heights grandmother with dementia wandered from her house overnight, but the nose of a police department bloodhound found her in some woods.
A bloodhound named Tayaut, a canine officer for the Prince George's County Police Department, led rescuers to a woman with dementia who wandered away from her home overnight.
According to the department's Facebook post, a 911 call cam in at 2:30 a.m. Friday from a woman who couldn't find her 62-year-old grandmother. The older woman suffers from dementia and other medical conditions. She had wandered away from their home on Marbury Court in District Heights sometime after midnight.
PGPD patrol officers immediately began to search for the grandmother. Corporal Don Smith and K9 Tayaut joined the effort to find the missing woman.
Find out what's happening in Bowiewith free, real-time updates from Patch.
The bloodhound sniffed the woman's pillowcase and immediately began to track her. The police dog's track took the team past two rows of townhouses, a playground and into some woods.
About 70 yards into the woods, the K9 team found the grandmother on the ground and tangled in some thorn bushes, unable to get up on her own. A police officer carried her out of the woods and she was taken to a hospital.
Find out what's happening in Bowiewith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.
