A massive search and rescue effort was organized Tuesday morning in Leitchfield after a woman with mental health issues went missing after creating a disturbance at the Grayson County Judicial Center.
At 1:50 Tuesday morning, Leitchfield Police Department Sgt. Keith Harrell and Officer DJ Newton along with Grayson County Deputies Sean Fentress and Justin Cockerel arrived at the judicial center, at 500 Carroll Gibson Boulevard, after nearby residents reported hearing a woman screaming and behaving erratically on the backside of the courthouse.
Upon arriving at the scene, police found a courthouse door open. Inside the courthouse, a few tables had been overturned, police said, and a backpack was found, but several searches for the woman inside the judicial center proved fruitless.
By this time, authorities gathered information which indicated they were looking for an adult woman with mental health issues. The woman’s vehicle was parked in the courthouse lot. Police went to the woman’s residence but she was not there.
Multiple first responders were summoned to the scene to undertake a search and rescue effort once authorities realized the woman was not inside the spacious judicial center or in the area immediately surrounding the courthouse.
Arriving at the scene were head of courthouse security, Grayson County Sgt. Jason Luedke, the Leitchfield Fire Department, Grayson County Emergency Management Director Tony Willen, and Scotty Cantway, Deputy Emergency Management Director and head of maintenance for the judicial center.
First responders then put together a search and rescue game plan, with Leitchfield Fire Chief Tim Duvall leaving the scene to retrieve a side-by-side, and one Leitchfield firefighter going to his residence to get a four-wheeler to search the wooded area around the courthouse, as well as a nearby walking trail.
Then, at 3:45, Central Dispatch received a call reporting a suspicious female sitting in front of Grayson Nursing & Rehab, at 505 William Thomason Byway, just over a half-mile from the courthouse.
Harrell arrived at the nursing facility and made contact with the female, ending the search and rescue effort. Multiple other first responders also soon arrived to assist Harrell.
The woman, police said, agreed to receive mental health treatment.
(Headline photo: LPD Sgt. Keith Harrell briefs Leitchfield firefighters on the situation in the parking lot of the Grayson County Judicial Center)
By Ken Howlett, News Director
Contact Ken at ken@k105.com
