A Wyoming man with dementia who went missing was found safe and well after his wife saw him on television while watching a news segment about helping those in need in Salt Lake City.
Michael Black, 91, ended up at the Rescue Mission of Salt Lake, which is more than 200 miles (320 kilometers) from the home he shares with his wife, Avril Black, in Afton, in Western Wyoming’s Star Valley. .
Avril, 77, had reported her husband missing on Nov. 25 and tipsters had helped police map his journey through southern Idaho and northern Utah, but the trail was then lost.
It turns out that Black, who was diagnosed with dementia eight years ago, hitchhiked from a bus station to the rescue mission, where he met Jay Rouse.
Rouse, who directs the shelter’s chapel, said KSL News that he had received a call from a good Samaritan who had picked up Black at the bus station on November 26.
“It was around 8:30 pm to 9:00 pm (local time) and normally we are closed at that time, but I said, ‘bring it,'” Rouse recalled.
‘It turned out he was 91 years old, a veteran of the Korean War. He was a really sweet guy. “I realized this sweet old man needed help,” Rouse added.
The day before Thanksgiving, November 27, Avril saw her white-haired husband while watching a KSL News segment as part of that night’s 10 o’clock news.
Michael Black is a 91-year-old man with dementia who went missing and was found by his wife when she saw him on a Thanksgiving news segment.
Black ended up 200 miles from his home in Wyoming at this shelter in Salt Lake City called the Rescue Mission.
He was dressed in a black coat and was eating dinner among dozens of people staying at the shelter.
Referring to the moment she realized it was him, Avril said: “I thought, ‘Wait a minute, I’m sure I saw Michael.’
“So I paused the TV, put it back on, and sure enough, there it was,” he recalled.
‘It was so unreal. I felt very relieved. I actually slept that night,” Avril told KSL News.
Police then confirmed Michael Black’s identity and she drove to Salt Lake City to pick him up.
‘I’m speechless. It just blows my mind that it happened. Wow, does he have a guardian angel watching over him?
“And you guys, thank God you were there,” Avril continued, referring to the Afton Police Department and the Salt Lake Rescue Mission team.
“The police have been wonderful to us,” he told the outlet. “And at the rescue home they gave him warm clothes and a blanket and really took care of him.”
Sam Benastick, 20 (pictured), was found on Thanksgiving Day after spending 50 days lost in the Canadian Rockies.
The Thanksgiving miracle occurred the night before a missing 20-year-old hiker was found alive after being missing for more than 50 days in the Rocky Mountains.
Sam Benastick was reported missing on October 19 after he did not return from a 10-day fishing and hiking trip in Redfern-Keily Park in the northern Rocky Mountains, British Columbia, Canada.
When temperatures in the mountainous region dropped to -20°C (-4°F), authorities were forced to suspend the search in late October.
But two workers heading down a trail Tuesday saw Benastick and recognized him as he walked toward them with two canes and a sleeping bag cut up around his legs for warmth.
They took him back to safety and told police he initially stayed in his car for a few days, before walking to a stream near a mountain, where he camped for about two weeks.
After his stay at the creek, he moved further down the valley and built a shelter in a creek bed.
Announcing his safe return to civilization, mother Sandra Crocker told hunters and anglers in a local Facebook group: “Sam Benastick is alive, it’s TRUTH.”
‘Recovering in the hospital. He complained that he had not caught a single fish. He’ll recover, he just needs some time.’