Local emergency agencies continued searching Tuesday for 83-year-old North Bryan resident Emma Carroll, who suffers from dementia.
Bryan County Emergency Services Director Jim Anderson said Carroll was last seen Saturday evening at her home on Caroll Crossing Road in Groveland, near Hwy. 280 and the Evans County line. He said foul play is not suspected and she is believed to have wandered off from her residence.
Her daughter, Alethia Carroll, lives right next door but reportedly left to go to the store at 6 p.m. and came home at 8 p.m. to find the front door open and her mother nowhere to be found. She has not been seen since. Alethia Carroll said her mother has wandered off two other times but was quickly found.
The search escalated Monday when a total of fifteen local emergency agencies and many volunteers joined in a 100-man search that combed the area. It included the Bryan County mobile command vehicle setting up just outside the Carroll home and a helicopter search by Fort Stewart soldiers.
Unfortunately, no sign of the missing woman was found by any of the searchers Tuesday evening.
"The search team is doing a fantastic job," Alethia Carroll said Monday. "We just hope and pray for her to be found safe. If anybody has seen her, please call the police immediately. She needs to come home and time is of the essence."
Anderson said the search scaled down a bit Tuesday, but "it’s still a large scale operation." In addition to Bryan agencies, teams from the Red Cross, GSAR (Georgia Search and Rescue) and Georgia Body and Recovery continued searching Tuesday, including the use of dogs."The woods are real thick, but there are a lot of ATV riders combing the woods," said Bryan County Red Cross DAT (Disaster Action Team) member Christy Waters. "We will be here as long as there is an ongoing search. We’re still hopeful to find some sign – like a torn piece of clothing or footprints. I’m very hopeful that we’ll find her."
Investigator Donnie Thomas said the Bryan County Sheriff’s Department put out a Mattie Alert Monday, which entails tapping into radio broadcasts and sending ‘be on the lookout’ teletypes to local lottery systems.
Meanwhile, the family is banding together at Emma Carroll’s home and praying for a homecoming.
"We are still full of hope," her daughter Ruby Williams said Tuesday. "We are so thankful for everybody’s support. The way this community has come together is inspiring."
Carroll was last seen in a blue dress with a large white collar and a white flower pattern on it. She is 5 feet 3 inches tall and 170 pounds.
Anyone with any information on Carroll’s whereabouts is urged to call 911. Anyone interesting in volunteering for the search can call Jim Anderson at 858-2799.