HPD bloodhound helps
in search for missing manAn Alzheimer's patient who
had been missing overnight
is found near his home
Honolulu police credit bloodhound Annie with helping to find a missing Alzheimer's patient in Makakilo yesterday in her first day on the job.
Annie narrowed the search, ruling out sections of the neighborhood, so rescuers could search elsewhere, police Sgt. Lambert Ohia said. Ohia, head of the Specialized Services Division K-9 Detail, spotted the patient in the brush from a police helicopter.
Annie was on hand when Michael Basta, 69, was recovered from an area overgrown with grass and kiawe trees near his Hunekai Street home.
His wife reported him missing 8 p.m. Wednesday, but he was last seen by a caretaker 11:30 a.m. Wednesday at his home.
Basta was spotted at about 9:15 a.m. yesterday, lying about 40 yards down a steep hill below a house on Hauone Street, one street away from his home.
Ohia said Basta had probably fallen down the hillside.
Theresa Basta knelt next to her husband as paramedics checked his vital signs , which were good. They found just a few minor scrapes and bruises, after he spent a chilly night in the open.
"The house was empty without him last night," Theresa Basta said. "I was numb for those hours."
But when she got the news yesterday morning, "I just shouted and rushed over," she said. "I just wanted to be with him.
"He couldn't speak but he just held my hand," she said, beaming with joy.
Theresa Basta thanked police, its K-9 Unit, the Fire Department, the ambulance crew, the Alzheimer's Association and the media.
Her husband was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease a few years ago and wore a "Safe Return" bracelet, but it was the first time he had wandered off, she said.
Michael Basta was taken by ambulance to the Queen's Medical Center, where he was in guarded condition and undergoing assessment.
Dog trainers Linda Dunn and Mike Craig, whose nonprofit organization Canine for Kids Inc., of North Carolina, donated Annie, worked with the HPD K-9 unit in the search.
Craig said that unlike the K-9 unit's Belgian Malinois that track by air scent for any human scent, bloodhounds can pinpoint the scent of a specific person from among hundreds.
Craig said Basta had a routine of taking daily walks with his wife or caretaker.
"There was a whole lot of scent where he'd been traveling," he said. They searched cul-de-sacs, a park, the main road, construction sites and townhouses Wednesday night.
They ruled out areas, such as a large construction site, where no scent was found. "That enabled us to concentrate the search last night and today into more productive areas," Craig said.
Craig commended HPD's search efforts and stressed that Annie cannot replace the other dogs on HPD's K-9 unit.
"She just adds one more piece to the puzzle, so they have a more complete package," Craig said.
