ALNA - At approximately 6:00 p.m. last evening, June 27, the Maine Warden Service received a call from Lincoln County Sheriff’s Department requesting assistance with locating Helen Smith from Alna. Smith is believed to have dementia and was overdue for her insulin for diabetes. She was last seen at her residence on Rabbit Path Road at about 1:00 PM yesterday, according to Maine Warden Service spokesperson Corporal John MacDonald.

Thunderstorms and periods of heavy rain were moving through the area. Smith was thought to be wearing only a t-shirt and capris pants. As luck would have it, several members of the Maine Warden Service K9 Team were conducting night training when the call came in. Within an hour, four game warden K9 teams arrived on the scene to assist with locating Smith.

The K9 teams developed a search plan where Game Warden Dave Chabot attempted a track with his black lab, K9 Ruby. The three remaining teams began air scent deployments in areas across from Smith’s residence. 

Within 30 minutes and just prior to dark, Game Warden Dave Chabot and K9 Ruby completed a successful track of Smith and located her approximately four tenths of a mile in the woods behind her residence. K9 Ruby tracked Smith for nearly a mile, looping through the woods prior to locating her.

Smith was cold and wet from the rain but otherwise in good health. She was walked out of the woods and transported by a Maine Warden Service side-by-side ATV back to her residence where she was evaluated by medical personnel.