Family thanks rescuers who found missing 78-year-old Jacksonville man after 3-day search

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Rescuers used each useful resource that they had — from helicopters and drones to canines and detectives — to discover a lacking 78-year-old Jacksonville man alive.

Germilus Nonord has dementia and disappeared round 6 p.m. Tuesday from his residence on the Westside, and search and rescue groups discovered him deep in a swamp close by round 4 p.m. Thursday. As of Friday, he was recovering in a hospital.

On Friday afternoon, the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Workplace and the Jacksonville Hearth and Rescue Division held a information convention detailing the search efforts for Nonord. Jacksonville police teamed up with firefighters — calling in assist from St. Johns, Nassau and Clay counties — to find him.

“I knew how many individuals have been on the market,” stated Wilbens Nonord, Germilus Nonord’s son. “I do know it was so much.”

His son instructed News4JAX that his father has dementia and speaks little English. And altering climate made the search extra pressing. JFRD and JSO launched their joint Lacking and Endangered Individual Search and Rescue Program — or MEPSAR — which they debuted in 2021.

“Once we go a few hours in a state of affairs like that, we’re ramping it up as a result of we all know that point is of the essence, and it’s due to the onerous work of those women and men behind me that make that occur,” stated Jacksonville Sheriff T.Okay. Waters.

Waters applauded the search and rescue groups who discovered the person within the woods in a thick swamp off Connie Jean Street 46 hours after he disappeared.

“It appeared like an animal was shifting it forwards and backwards, nevertheless it simply stored shifting,” stated JFRD Capt. Colin Aguilar.

Aguilar and JFRD Engineer A.Okay. Buchanan noticed him on a grid search and have been first to succeed in him after trudging by means of water and dirt all day.

“As we acquired nearer, we may see he was there,” Aguilar stated. “He was truly up beneath a log.”

Buchanan speaks slightly Creole and was capable of talk with the weak and dehydrated man, carrying him to an ambulance.

“We stated, ‘We’ve acquired you. We’re going to get you out of right here. You’re going to be OK,’” Aguilar stated.

Yet one more evening within the components, and these veteran rescuers don’t suppose the result would have been good.

His household is eternally grateful.

“I’m overjoyed an appreciative of all of the neighborhood, everybody that got here out to assist us look, all of the volunteers, the sheriff’s division, the hearth division,” Wilbens Nonord stated.

On Friday, Germilus Nonord’s son and grandson thanked the hard-working first responders, understanding that with out them, this might be a special story.

“It was like on the lookout for a needle in a haystack,” Wilbens Nonord stated.

Whereas Germilus Nonord was recovering on the hospital as of Friday night, he’s hoping to go residence quickly.

Since JSO and JFRD launched the MEPSAR program in Might 2021. it’s been a mannequin for different companies throughout the nation. Of the 96 MEPSAR searches in our space, based on officers, 95 resulted in them discovering the lacking individuals.