According to a Saturday, April 4th press release from the Curry County Sheriff’s Office, a call from Stephanie Riddle was received just before 11:30am reporting that her seventy four year old husband was missing from their residence north of Gold Beach.
Riddle stated that her husband Charles, had been suffering from medical conditions, and she had not seen him since 9:30am. Curry County Deputies and Search and Rescue members responded to the residence and began searching the residence, the property and the heavily wooded area.
A K-9 Deputy and his certified K-9 searched around the residence and alerted in an area between the residence and Highway 101 but were not able to find Charles in that area. A Search and Rescue member then deployed a drone while other Search and Rescue members searched the beach below the residence.
A total of about twenty searchers including Search and Rescue members and deputies continued to search for Charles throughout the day and an incident command was set up at Geisel Monument State Park to conduct planning and operations.
At about 5:20pm, approximately eight hours since Charles had gone missing, Search and Rescue members located Charles about a quarter mile from his residence. Charles was lying on his back tangled up in some brush unable to move and showed signs of hypothermia.
Stephanie Riddle was then notified that Charles had been found and that Search and Rescue member members carried Charles to the highway where he was transported to Curry General Hospital by Cal Ore Life Flight Ambulance.
