NEED TO KNOW
- The volunteer who found a missing Michigan man with dementia on Wednesday, June 25, said he was only searching for an hour before finding him
- Ben Osenbaugh, 39, and his dog Dolly were searching near a creek in Ann Arbor when they found Ralph Yang, 82
- “All it takes is one person to get that news and show up,” said Osenbaugh
The person who found a missing Michigan man with dementia is speaking out.
Ben Osenbaugh was one of many members of the Ann Arbor community who went looking for Ralph Yang, an 82-year-old man who disappeared on Monday, June 23, according to MichiganLive.
Yang was found in a creek shortly before 9 p.m. in the 2500 block of Newport Road, police said in news releases on Wednesday, June 25
Osenbaugh, a 39-year-old who previously worked as a professor of chemical engineering at University of Michigan, told MichiganLive he had only been searching for an hour when he and his dog Dolly came upon Yang.
Originally, Osenbaugh said he did not plan to check the creek, but he wanted to check a vacant home nearby. Soon, Osenbaugh realized he had found Yang alive.
“He was laying facing away from me, so I was approaching him from the back of his head,” Osenbaugh recalled. “He just looked like someone really young, like much younger.”
Osenbaugh said he called 911, and officers arrived at the scene a short time later. Police said Yang was “fairly responsive” and “able to communicate” with those on scene before he was transported to the University of Michigan Hospital.
Body camera footage from the rescue, obtained by ABC affiliate WXYZ-TV, showed police hoisting Yang out of the river and carrying him to the road, where he was later placed on a stretcher.
Osenbaugh told MichiganLive was surprised by how many people showed up to search for Yang. He applauded those who spread the word about the search, including police and community members.
“All it takes is one person to get that news and show up,” he said. “You never know what could happen.”
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After Yang was found, Police thanked those who assisted in the search for the missing man, who also has Parkinson’s disease.
They said more than 200 volunteers were searching for Yang on Wednesday night, while 60 people searched for him earlier in the day, according to NBC affiliate WDIV-TV.
“Today was a true testament to how strong our community is and how we look after each other,” police said in one of the statements released Wednesday.
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