Pickens County Sheriff’s office searching for Missing Man

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Pickens County Sheriff’s office have been searching for a missing man since earlier on October 16th.   Ben Thebaut, a 79 year old white male, who was seen leading his residence in the Preserve subdivision to walk in the woods.  Thebaut, a retired doctor, was thought to be in good physical health and routinely took walks around his home.  At this time, he has not returned home. His clothing description is unknown at this time.

Detectives and Deputies from the Pickens Sheriff’s Office are working closely with first responders from the Pickens Fire Department to locate him.  The PCSO has stated they know people are concerned and wanting to assist in the search for Mr. Thebaut.   They used a helicopter to scan  the area and a K9 team in the woods. They had to spend time searching for helpful neighbors that were detected from the air and the individuals in the woods prevented the dog from having good success.

FYN contacted Kris Stancil with the Pickens County Sheriff’s office who said he has been on the search team in the woods.

Please do not go into the area until the search is broadened in a safe manner.  If you have any information on the whereabouts of Mr Thebaut, please call 911 and relay that information.  FetchYourNews.com will update as more info becomes available.

 UPDATE:
The Pickens County Sheriff’s Office has released the following statement:

Pickens Sheriff’s Office and Pickens Fire are currently in the Sharp Mountain Preserve Subdivision attempting to locate a missing 79 year old white male. He was last seen walking near his home on Terrace Way at around 3 pm yesterday, wearing a brown sweatshirt and a camouflage “boonie” style hat. His name is Ben Thebaut. Ben is 5’09” tall and weighs 180 lbs with grey balding hair.

Mr. Thebaut has been suffering from dementia like symptoms but this prognosis has not been confirmed by a doctor at this time.

Crews from the Sheriff’s Office, Fire and air support from the Georgia State Patrol searched well into the night and then the investigation moved into the office to begin tracking any possible destinations that Mr. Thebaut could have been traveling to. At day break, crews were joined by the Georgia Department of Natural Resouces on the ground and air support, Georgia Department of Corrections and Gilmer County Sheriff’s Office and searching has resumed ever since. At this time, search and rescue teams from Cherokee County are responding to assist as well.

If anyone sees or has any information on the whereabouts of Mr. Thebaut, please call 911 and let them know. At this time, we are only utilizing fire and law enforcement units in the search to ensure that we can use the canine capabilities and safe conditions can be monitored. In the event that the search does expand, the Pickens Sheriff’s Office will share this information on their Facebook site.

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