An 85-year-old man missing from his High Springs home was found Tuesday in South Carolina after an state alert was issued.
The Silver Alert program, signed by Gov. Charlie Crist earlier this month, broadcasts information about missing elderly people with dementia, a Florida Department of Law Enforcement, release stated.
This was the first Silver Alert issued in Alachua County, said Kristen Perezluha, a spokeswoman for FDLE.
When Ashton Ross Funk didn't come home after he took the car to run errands, his wife called High Springs Police on Monday and an alert was issued, Perezluha said.
The alerts include announcements on roadside message signs or descriptions and photographs sent immediately to the media, the release stated.
Funk's wife received a call from her husband early Tuesday telling her that he was at a hotel in Walterboro, S.C. High Springs police contacted Walterboro police, and Funk was found at a Ramada Inn, Perezluha said. Funk could not explain how he got to South Carolina.
Funk's case was the fifth Silver Alert to be issued in Florida. All five cases ended with the missing people being located, Perezluha said.
