Community members bound together to respond to a missing persons report of a Frankfort woman
Tuesday night that led to her being found.
Around 6:30 p.m. Tuesday evening, Patricia Sterba was reported missing in the Frankfort area, and reports showed that concern was increased as she has dementia. Only a few hours later, she was found as a result of community efforts to locate her whereabouts.
Frankfort Police Department Chief Scott Shoemaker released a statement regarding the situation, commenting that a Nixle subscriber was a pivotal contributor to the search.
“We can’t thank everyone enough for their involvement tonight,” Shoemaker released. “We are grateful that a citizen who receives Clinton County Central Dispatch Nixle messages saw our missing person tonight and called in. Once the call was made, FPD Detective Pickrell and Captain Hall were quickly in the area. Upon arrival, Patricia got in Detective Pickrell’s vehicle to get warm. Clinton County EMS arrived to check her out. She was uninjured.”
Shoemaker commented that he reached out to the witness to express his thanks as he pondered how far she might have roamed out of Frankfort if the community member had not taken notice and called in the tip. Shoemaker continued to express his gratitude for the other moving factors that led to Sterba’s safe return home.
“I want to thank Clinton County Central Dispatch for coordinating the phone calls and radio traffic, thank you to the more than half of our police department staff who responded or was on the way from home to help, thank you to Frankfort Street Department memberrs who were mobilizing to help, thank you to those on social media for getting the word out and thank you to the Clinton County Sheriff’s Office Deputies for helping us search Frankfort,” Shoemaker released. “So many more were helping, and I know I’m leaving some people out.”
Shoemaker stated that Sterba was returned home safely, and the department has made plans with the family to apply the project lifesaver equipment for her safety.