Missing autistic man located after a search in Yates

Press Release, Orleans County Sheriff Scott Hess

YATES – A search for a missing man with autism ended about an hour after it began, when the man was located unharmed this afternoon.

Autism Services Inc., of Buffalo, brought a group of 10 people to a location in the 1800 block of Murdock Road in Yates. The purpose of this excursion was for the group to participate in a Nature Walk. The group’s tour guide was preparing to start the walk when one of the individuals, a 21-year-old male, bolted from the group and ran off into a wooded area shortly before 1 p.m.

The individual had been gone about 30 minutes when 9-1-1 was called. Law enforcement officers and firefighters responded to the area and set up for a search detail.

At about 2 p.m. a woman at a residence in the 1900 block of Niagara-Orleans County Line Road saw an individual she did not recognize on the back porch of the house in Yates. She ran out of the house and across the road to a neighbor’s home and called Niagara County 9-1-1.

Niagara and Orleans County deputies responded to the house and located the missing man inside the residence in an upstairs bedroom. This location is almost 2 miles from where the individual went missing. He was returned to the Murdock Road location where he was examined by EMS personnel, and then returned to person(s) responsible for his supervision.

The incident was investigated by Deputies M.C. Mele and R.M. Flaherty. They were assisted by Environmental Conservation Law Enforcement, the Lyndonville, Ridgeway, and Shelby Fire Departments, and the Orleans County Office of Emergency Management. An Albion Police K-9 also responded to the scene, but was not needed due to the individual being located.