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Deputies rescue 82-year-old man in Central Oregon snow

Sheriff’s deputies found John Goodwin in the snow on Bureau of Land Management land east of Highway 27 on Thursday night.
Credit: Deschutes County Sheriff's Office
A map of the location where John Goodwin was found.

BEND, Ore. — An 82-year-old man was rescued Thursday after spending a freezing night in his truck stuck in the snow east of Bend, Ore.

Sheriff’s deputies found John Goodwin in the snow on Bureau of Land Management land east of Highway 27 at around 8:40 p.m. He was wet and showing signs of hypothermia, according to the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office.

Goodwin’s daughter, Lydia Smith, called 911 Thursday afternoon to report that her father, who suffers from dementia, got his truck stuck in the snow somewhere near Highway 20 and Highway 27 while trying to drive to his ranch Wednesday night. Smith said she had just spoken with her father and he sounded disoriented on the phone. She believed he spent Wednesday night in his truck and walked out into the snow sometime on Thursday.

The sheriff’s office said the temperature in the search area was about 19 degrees.

Sheriff’s deputies, search and rescue volunteers and an air ambulance crew began searching the area for Goodwin while emergency dispatchers worked to ping his cellphone to pinpoint his location.

Authorities contacted the Air Force Coordination Center and requested that their cellular forensics specialists help locate Goodwin using his cellphone data.

“At approximately 7:28 p.m., the AFRCC contacted DCSO identifying a likely location for Goodwin within 854 meters,” the sheriff’s office said in a news release.

About 40 minutes later, the air ambulance crew spotted Goodwin’s truck and footprints leading away from the vehicle. The crew spotted Goodwin on the ground in the snow about a half-mile away and directed ground searchers to the location.

Deputies carried Goodwin back to their vehicles and took him to a waiting ambulance crew. Medics rushed him to a hospital. His condition is unknown.

Credit: Deschutes County Sheriff's Office
A map of the location where John Goodwin was found.

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