Ohio Man Found Barely Alive

By Roberta Cantrell
BSN Editor

A 73 year-old man from Hamilton, Ohio, was found Monday, afternoon Aug. 11, in the area of Twin Branch after a call came in that there was an abandoned car that had apparently wrecked over a hill.

When Lawrence County Sheriff Deputies Wyatt Laney and Mason Keefer arrived, they noticed the Ohio plates on the vehicle, a Toyota Corolla and called them in. That’s when they learned Richard Bruce, a veteran had been reported missing by his social worker.

The social worker became concerned when he wasn’t at his residence for his “in-home” visit. After checking the two restaurants he frequented and was told they had not seen him for days, it was then the missing person’s report was made for Bruce.

As Deputy Keefer and KSP Trooper Zach Wright who was also on the scene began walking down the road and creek area they heard a faint call for help and that’s where they found Bruce incapacitated from the condition he was in.

Bruce had been in the elements for what police believe to be since Friday and suffered from severe dehydration, a back injury and numerous bug bites.

He was very weak but was able to speak and told emergency responders he was a diabetic and received kidney dialysis treatments.

Bruce was confused but said he had no wife or children to contact. He was able to make it several yards from where he had wrecked before he became to weak go any farther.

Fallsburg Fire Chief Chris Jobe said “It was a miracle from God” because had the officers not walked down the road, they would have never heard the man’s faint cry out for help.

Jason Slone from Fish and Wildlife received the call about the abandoned and wrecked vehicle and called the sheriff’s office. Bruce was then airlifted from the Twin Branch boat dock and flown to Cabell Huntington Hospital. Patriot Ambulance also responded to the scene.

Lawrence County Sheriff Deputy Wyatt Laney was on his first day of duty and said he hopes Bruce is doing okay and that he was so glad that everything happened like it did in time to find him alive.

It is not known why the man was in the area, police believe he may have been suffering from confusion from either his age or medical conditions.