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CEDAR CITY — A 72-year-old man with "advanced Alzheimer's" who went missing from his home in Washington two weeks ago was found in a rural area of Iron County Wednesday.
The man, whose name was not released, went missing from Onalaska, Washington. On Wednesday, two employees from the Iron County Water Conservancy District came across the man lying in the middle of the road.
"They saved his life," said Iron County Sheriff Mark Gower.
The employees were in an unincorporated area of the county west of Cedar City about 8 a.m. when they came across a Jeep abandoned in the middle of the road, Gower said. About a mile later, they found the Washington man.
"He was in fact breathing but was not in good shape, due to the temperature," Gower said.
The temperature that night had fallen into the 20s, he said. When emergency crews got him to the hospital, doctors determined his body temperature was 82 degrees. The man was still in the hospital as of Friday, Gower said.
Investigators have attempted to retrace the man's steps based on his debit card purchases but were unsure Friday why he ended up in Utah.
"He has been traveling pretty much all over the western United States, Nevada, Utah, Washington state," Gower said.
The man's family was notified and was in Cedar City Friday.
