Kamas residents Jennifer and Ray Bailey talk about their autistic son Justin, who became lost...
By Patrick Parkinson, Of the Record staff - Posted: 03/17/2009 04:24:11 PM MDT
A volunteer searcher in Kamas found a 20-year-old autistic man Monday night who had been missing for about 24 hours.
"We found him 500 yards from his home," Summit County Sheriff's Office Detective Ron Bridge said.
Justin Bailey's disease causes him to function at the level of about an 8-year-old, said Ray Bailey, the father of the man who was missing.
"You've got to be kidding," Bailey said Monday when told by The Park Record where Justin was found.
Justin Bailey was found at about 7:30 p.m. hunkered down in a building northeast of his apartment in Kamas, Bridge said.
"We had searchers in the area right on top of him," Bridge said. "He found a small shelter, ironically, inside the Summit County Sheriff's Office old search-and-rescue building. He crawled underneath a bench. He was actively engaged in trying to hide from us."
Bailey was found in good condition, said Kamas City Councilman Kevan Todd, who is also a search volunteer.
"Urban search and rescue is so tough. You almost have to overturn every single thing," Todd said about combing towns in the Kamas Valley.
Bailey made headlines last summer when he wasn't located for nearly 48 hours after wandering from his apartment in Kamas. A note he left behind in June indicated he was not happy with conditions of his autism.
"Last night, it was like, 'Oh, we're going through it again,'" the man's mother, Jennifer Bailey said Monday.
In 21 years as a search volunteer, Todd said Bailey is the only person he has ever ooked for more than once.
An electronic bracelet equipped with a tracking device could help authorities locate Bailey more quickly if he gets lost, Todd said.
"Obviously, he has a history of wandering off and running away," Todd said. "We ought to look at it. His safety probably warrants it more than anything."
About 50 people with helicopters and dogs searched Monday for Bailey.
"It's a good thing that this county has such good volunteers," Todd said.
But finding lost people as quickly would be too expensive without volunteers, Summit County Sheriff Dave Edmunds stressed.
"This was a 24-hour search and if we had to pay for that kind of search, the taxpayers would be overly burdened," Edmunds said. "There would be a much-reduced response."
He suggests Bailey's parents attach an ankle monitor to their son to help track his whereabouts.
"We just want him to be safe. This may be a dramatic example of what can happen to these handicapped kids," Edmunds said. "There is no one who is capable of knowing, at every second of every day, where these kids are."
With the wind chill Sunday night, temperatures in Kamas dropped to nearly 20 degrees.
"This is a very dangerous situation," Edmunds said. "We're talking life threatening."
Meanwhile, searchers were unable to obtain much from Bailey about his mindset and why he left his home on foot.
"I don't think we're ever going to get any kind of information on why he did what he did," Edmunds said.
Searchers believe Bailey was hiding from them.
"Even when they approached him he was startled," Edmunds said. "These are difficult, difficult searches with these mentally handicapped children. It sure seems as though they don't want to be found."
The man's mother said the search helicopter likely frightened her son. She said her son did not return Sunday when she asked him to take out the garbage.
"He seemed fine," Jennifer Bailey said. "He seemed to be having a really good day."
When Bailey went missing last year he was found by a passerby near Weber Canyon Road east of Oakley.
"I was a little angry at first," Jennifer Bailey said about Justin running away Sunday at about 7:30 p.m. "He's my son. I owe him whatever it takes. He's been the central factor of my life for the last 20 years."
Not taking medications he is prescribed daily might have impacted Justin's ability to reason while separated from his family.
"What he is likely to do is run and hide," the man's mother said. "He's not real responsive. He's typically autistic."
Source: http://www.parkrecord.com/ci_11934343
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