Missing Woman Located

CHATHAM – Following an intensive search Wednesday night and Thursday morning, an 88-year-old woman who went missing from her home was found just after 9 a.m. Thursday.

Police say the woman, identified as Roslyn Coleman, was confused but conscious and talking with rescuers.

The fire department received a call at around 10:15 p.m. Wednesday and a search was initiated with the regional technical rescue team, drawing members from as far away as Falmouth. Searchers combed the area until about 2:30 a.m., when the search was suspended until daylight. It resumed at about 8 a.m., and at about 9:05 a.m., a deputy from the Barnstable County Sheriff's Office located Coleman in the bushes across the street from her house.

"This was the best outcome we could've asked for," Deputy Chatham Police Chief Ryan Clarke said shortly after Coleman was found. Crews were concerned about the temperature and humidity, which combined to make it feel like 86 degrees outdoors Thursday. Clarke said searchers were initially hampered by the darkness Wednesday night, and said it was difficult enough to spot her in the daylight the following morning. The sheriff's deputy "almost stepped on her" before discovering her in the shrubs, he noted. Coleman was wearing a green bathrobe at the time.

Crews from the Cape Cod Technical Rescue Team, Chatham Police and Chatham Fire combed the neighborhood, working from a command post near the airport and from the emergency operations center at the police station. The town alerted the public with a recorded phone message, asking anyone with information to come forward. In addition to crews on foot and using all-terrain vehicles, a drone was also employed in the search, and officials were beginning to comb nearby ponds when Coleman was located.

Clarke thanked members of the search team, the sheriff's office, Chatham police and the public.

"The system works, bottom line," he said.