Two Satsuma Teens Help Police Find Missing 77-Year-Old Woman With Dementia

Two Satsuma teenagers are being credited with helping police locate a 77-year-old woman with dementia who had gone missing Wednesday morning, bringing a tense search to a quick and safe end.

Satsuma police said Kathryn Whitney, who suffers from dementia, was last seen Wednesday morning, prompting officers to fan out across the small Mobile County city to search for her. While canvassing the area, an officer stopped Collin Carrell and Dalton Medley on Seventh Street and asked if they had seen an elderly woman walking in the area, letting them know she was missing and asking them to keep an eye out.

“A cop had stopped us and asked us if we had seen like an elderly woman walking around anywhere and then he said like she was missing and just told us to keep an eye out,” Medley said.

The two teens kept looking as they continued on their way. “We was riding and we stopped about where that one pool is and he like turned around and saw her and I was like okay well, then let’s go over there and see so then we went over there and talked to her,” Carrell said.

Found Safe on a Stranger’s Patio

As Carrell and Medley approached, they saw a woman sitting in a rocking chair at someone’s home. After speaking with her, they realized she matched the description of the missing woman and quickly called police.

The homeowner’s Ring doorbell camera captured video showing Whitney had been sitting on the back patio for roughly an hour and a half before first responders arrived, underscoring how easily a wandering resident with dementia can go unnoticed even in a residential neighborhood.

“It’s good that somebody like us found her and I’m just glad that she’s okay,” Carrell said.

Satsuma police confirmed Whitney was safe and healthy following the search. Carrell and Medley said they were thankful to have been in the right place at the right time.

A Reminder About Dementia-Related Wandering

Wandering is common among people living with dementia; the Alzheimer’s Association estimates that six in 10 people with dementia will wander at least once, often without recognizing where they are or how to get home.

City Council Honors the Teens

Update: Carrell and Medley received a standing ovation at Tuesday night’s Satsuma City Council meeting as Mayor Mark Barlow formally recognized them for their role in the search. "In recognition of your compassion, selfless actions and dedication, in assisting the search and safe recovery of a Satsuma citizen, we would like to give these to ya’ll to put on your walls and give you a public thank you," Barlow told the teens at the meeting.

Barlow said the search that day involved multiple officers and drones, but that it was ultimately the two teenagers on bicycles who located Whitney. "One of our officers seen these two young guys out and told them who we were looking for and what the police were doing over there," Barlow said. Carrell said he was initially caught off guard when officers approached him and Medley near Seventh Street. "At first I was nervous when the cops was asking us questions," Carrell said.

"Lots of compliments to them and their parents around the city for you know, taking the effort to go and do that, so I think it speaks highly of them. Good young men," Barlow said at the meeting. Carrell said the response from the community since the search has been overwhelming. "People I have never seen before are saying congratulations and that they are proud of what we did," he said. Medley said the experience left him with a lesson he doesn’t plan to forget. "Do the right thing when no one is watching," Medley said.

Whitney had been missing for about four hours before the teens found her roughly half a mile from where she was last seen near Pine Avenue, according to Satsuma police. Officers searched the area by car while Satsuma and Saraland Fire Rescue flew drones overhead during the search.

Barlow also pointed families to a free tracking program offered through the Mobile County Sheriff’s Office for loved ones with Alzheimer’s, dementia or autism. The office partners with Project Lifesaver, which equips at-risk individuals with a tracking device that can help responders locate them quickly if they wander off. "I would certainly encourage people that may be caring for a loved one that may be having memory issues, or that they’re scared of going off like this," Barlow said. "It certainly is a lot easier if we have something to go on to try to locate them, instead of trying to put together the information and get that going once they’re missing."

Project Lifesaver began in 1999 as a program of the Chesapeake, Virginia, sheriff’s office and now operates through participating public safety agencies nationwide. Enrolled individuals wear a small radio transmitter, usually on the wrist or ankle, whose signal trained searchers can track with receivers if the person goes missing.