When a woman with dementia disappeared from her home in Citrus County, Fla. on Monday night, police had more than just her description to guide their search – they had her scent.
Equipped with a jar of her personal smell, police dog named K9 Ally and its handler, Deputy Justin Williams, were able to track down the woman from the Sugarmill Woods community in less than five minutes.
The Citrus County Sheriff’s Office credited the “endangered” and “elderly” missing woman’s speedy rescue to the fact that she had used a scent preservation kit two-and-a-half years earlier.
In a Facebook message, the sheriff’s office wrote that the kit, with a label from January 2015, helped the trained sniffer dog quickly locate the woman by her scent.
“It worked phenomenally. I couldn’t have asked for a better outcome. It was about as much of a perfect textbook track as you can get,” Williams told CTV News Channel.
He said the woman’s husband told police he believed his wife left through the back door. Williams quickly spotted a set of footprints. Ally then locked onto the scent and led him to a nearby wooded lot, where the woman was found in stable condition.
“She was hot and sweaty, but she was in good spirits,” Williams said.
“The woman was returned home safely and K9 Ally was rewarded with a special treat, a tasty vanilla ice cream cone!” according to the update posted on Facebook Tuesday.
Williams told CTV News Channel on Thursday that the woman had kept the jar containing her scent on top of her fridge as the police department had recommended. He said the woman’s husband told him that he thought his wife had left through the back door so that’s where he and K9 Ally began their search.
“I deployed the K9 from straight there and we tracked straight through a wooded lot to a backyard of another residence where we found her on the ground,” Williams said.
Despite being a little overheated, Williams said the woman was physically okay and appeared to be in good spirits when she was found.
According to another Florida police department that offers the same service, the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office, scent preservation kits involve rubbing a sterile pad in the armpit area two or three times and then sealing it in a special jar secured with evidence tape.
The process can also preserve DNA for up to six months.
“The purpose of the kit is to have only one scent inside the jar for the bloodhound to focus on while looking for the missing person,” the sheriff’s office wrote on their website.
The department explained that, usually, a police dog handler will use the missing person’s dirty shirt or pillow case for the dog to smell, but these articles aren’t as effective as a swab from a scent preservation kit because they have usually been contaminated with other scents or odours.
“You have to be able to dismiss the dog off the other person’s odor. Usually with a husband and wife, both people sleep in the same bed, so both odors are going to be present on the sheets and pillows,” Williams said.
The Citrus County Sheriff’s Office said the jars are designed to store the scent for seven years or longer, if they’re unopened.
The kits are recommended for children and for people with dementia, autism or Alzheimer’s disease, but Williams said it’s a good idea for everyone to complete one.
“It worked phenomenally,” he said. “I couldn’t have asked for a better outcome. It was about as perfect a textbook track as you could get.”
