Missing Jemison female found after being lost for three days

Published 2:21 pm Friday, February 22, 2013

A community-wide search for a Jemison female ended Wednesday after she went missing on Feb. 18.

A passerby driving along County Road 131 found Peggy Barnett, 50, who went missing shortly after 3 p.m. on Monday.

Chilton County Sheriff Kevin Davis said James Edward Barnett called at 8:34 p.m. on Monday and reported his wife had been missing since earlier in the day and family and friends had been looking for her but were unable to locate her.

Three deputies responded to the call and learned that Barnett had wandered from her home on County Road 38 with no one knowing where she was headed.

“Deputies helped on Monday night with trying to locate her but after looking well into the night, they were unsuccessful,” Davis said.

The search continued on Tuesday with members of the sheriff’s department who sent out All Terrain Vehicles (ATV) along with investigators, Chilton County Rescue Squad, volunteers, friends and family who walked the woods.

Davis said Jemison Fire and Rescue and members from the Jemison Police Department also lent personnel to walk the woods and the Alabama State Aviation Unit sent a helicopter to assist with an overhead search flying around most of the day Tuesday.

“We still had no luck on Tuesday and continued our search into Tuesday night but stopped the search when it got dark on Tuesday,” Davis said. “We resumed the search on Wednesday morning with different personnel from the sheriff’s department, and a search dog team from Huntsville brought assistance shortly after lunch on Wednesday.”