Sheriff’s Office Helps Find Missing Woman

JACKSON HEIGHTS — A missing woman has been found, with the help of the Smith County Sheriff’s Office. Officials say patrol deputies responded around 7:20 Wednesday evening to a report of a missing person in the Jackson Heights community, in the eastern part of the county. Upon arrival, the deputies learned that around noon, a 53-year-old female had entered an extremely dense area of the woods in an attempt to locate one of the fishing ponds. She was reported to have in her possession a fishing pole and a tackle box. The responding deputies requested additional assistance in searching for the missing lady. With the help of the Jackson Volunteer Fire Department, they entered the wooded area and began searching.

After a couple of hours searching on foot, the assistance of the Department of Public Safety helicopter was requested. DPS arrived and began conducting a search of the area from the air. During this time, a citizen in the area contacted the sheriff�s office to report his dogs acting strangely. Several deputies went to this residence and after a short time were able to hear a female�s voice in the woods crying out. They were able to relay this information to the DPS pilots who then concentrated their search to this area. Just before 11:00 p.m. the missing woman was located by the officers operating the DPS helicopter, who were able to successfully guide the deputies on the ground to her location. The deputies reported that she appeared unharmed and in good spirits. The woman told the deputies she became lost after fishing and could not navigate her way out of the woods.

Sheriff Smith says he would like to reiterate the importance of having a resource such as the Department of Public Safety helicopter stationed in the northeast Texas area for searches such as this and those for violent offenders. According to Sheriff Smith, that resource has proven on numerous occasions to be invaluable in apprehending violent offenders and searching for lost individuals.