A missing 91-year-old Korean War veteran suffering from dementia has been found more than 320 miles from his home in Wyoming. His worried wife spotted him on an evening news program two days after he wandered.
Avril Black's concerns grew after her spouse, Michael Black, disappeared after leaving their home in Afton on Nov. 25, and she filed a missing person report the next morning. According to local reports.
While authorities gathered, he reportedly hitchhiked to Ovid, Idaho, then down to Garden City, Utah, where he was left exposed to the wind.
As the search continued, Michael was picked up by Salt Lake Rescue Mission on Tuesday night after missionaries formed a relationship with staff at a homeless shelter, KSL News reported.
“We realized that this kind old man needed help,” Jay Rouse, chapel director at the shelter, said of the Korean War veteran.
As Avril continued to think about her missing husband, she tuned into the 10pm news program on Tuesday and witnessed a miracle.
While watching a KSL show about Thanksgiving meals served at shelters in Utah, she saw her husband in the background eating his meal more than a three-hour drive from home. .
“You were just filming, and I thought, 'Wait a minute. I’m sure I met Michael,” Avril told the station. “Then I paused the TV, turned it back on, and sure enough, there he was!”
She called the moment “surreal.”
“I was so relieved. I actually slept that night knowing he was okay,” she said.
Rouse also recalled that the missionary said the old man was from a small town in Wyoming, and he eventually called Afton police the morning after Thanksgiving.
Michael was diagnosed with dementia nine years ago and had a tendency to wander, but this was the longest and furthest period he had been away from home.
“I'm speechless. I'm really shocked that this happened,” Avril told the station of her gratitude.
“Well, I guess he has a guardian angel watching over him. And thank you all for being there.”
