69-Year-Old Man Found Alive In The Woods 17 Days After His Wife Reported Him Missing
69-year-old Harry Burleigh went on a camping trip to Umpqua National Forest in Roseburg, Oregon earlier this month.
On May 7th, Harry’s wife reported him as missing at 10:15 pm that evening after he never got back from his trip.
Harry had told his wife he would be back on the 6th, but he never showed up.
Douglas County Sheriff’s Office; pictured above is Harry, the 69-year-old man who vanished while on a camping trip
The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office began searching the surrounding area for Harry, and the day after he was reported as missing, they found his car close to a trail headed towards Twin Lakes.
Despite the extensive search and the recovery of his car, Harry was still nowhere to be found.
Since Harry was an avid fisherman, authorities suspected he had potentially walked into one of the lakes to go fishing.
Days and then weeks started going by, but there was no sign of Harry anywhere. Despite that, authorities didn’t give up trying to find him, and neither did his loved ones.
Harry’s friends and family members decided to try to leave food and signs in the woods hoping that he would find them.
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“Searchers have been scouring the area for any signs of Burleigh and had come up empty-handed until yesterday, Sunday May 16, 2021,” the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office shared in a press release.
“Searchers located a makeshift shelter and a tackle box belonging to Burleigh in the Calf Creek area; however the man is still missing.”
Finally, on Sunday, May 23rd, Harry was found in the woods after having been missing for 17 long nights in the middle of nowhere.
Douglas County Sheriff’s Office; pictured above is a photo of the signs and food Harry’s loved ones left in the area, hoping he would find them
A team of people from the Jackson County Search And Rescue were the ones that found Harry that day.
“At approximately, 3:00 p.m., a team of searchers from Jackson County SAR located a shelter southwest of the original shelter found last weekend,” the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office explained in an update.
“The search crews called out to Mr. Burleigh who responded back. He was found to be walking and complaining of minor pain, but was in stable condition.”
Douglas County Sheriff’s Office; pictured above is the helicopter that arrived to rescue Harry from the woods
“A Brim Aviation helicopter was utilized to hoist Burleigh from his location and transport him to a waiting Lifeflight helicopter. Lifeflight later transported him to an out of area hospital for evaluation.”
The helicopter then came back to get the Jackson County SAR members out, while the remaining people who helped to look for Harry were able to hike out of the area.
“This was the outcome we all have been looking for in this case,” said Sgt. Brad O’Dell.
“It is because of our determined Search and Rescue Teams and the partnerships we have with other SAR teams from around the state, that Mr. Burleigh has been reunited with his family this evening.”
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