A 97-year-old woman with dementia went missing. Four kids banded together to find her
A group of "junior detectives" helped California police find a 97-year-old woman who went missing.
The Roseville Police Department asked for the public's help in locating Glenneta Belford on Monday. Police said Belford has "dementia and is mostly non-verbal" and has "been known to hide or hunker down in a location."
Logan Hultman, 10, told USA TODAY that his friends Makenna Rogers and Hope Claiborne were playing when they heard police in a helicopter asking for help looking for the missing woman. They grabbed Hope's younger brother, Kashton Claiborne, and Logan, hopped on their bikes and started searching the park and neighborhood near Cooley Middle School.
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During the search, Logan fell off his bike and the kids headed home so he could get patched up while they ate dinner. That's when his mother, Alyssa Hultman, first learned about their mission.
"Even after Logan took a fall down a hill, the kids went back ... out and were very determined," she said. "They told us that they are going to be the ones that find her."
When the kids set off again, they searched near their neighborhood, which Logan said is close to the senior center that Belford disappeared from. The group spotted a woman walking around and consulted a photo to be sure that it was Belford before 11-year-old Hope called the police.
"That’s when the police came and, well, they took care of everything else," Logan said. "We were very excited, very happy."
Alyssa Hultman said she was "really proud" of all the kids for taking it upon themselves to help.
"It shows a lot of their character and the type of people that they are," she said. "They just made the choice as a group to go and help someone and I think that’s really cool."
Police said they were "overwhelmed" by the number of residents who helped look for Belford – including the "junior detectives" who eventually located her.
"This is a great example of our exceptional community coming together to lend a helping hand," police said in a statement on Facebook. "This proves a great point, age is just a number and anyone can help out in a time of need."
Follow N'dea Yancey-Bragg on Twitter: @NdeaYanceyBragg
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: California kids help find missing 97-year-old woman with dementia
