The night our drone brought her home
Webster Parish, Louisiana · September 2024. How a thermal search and rescue drone and a team that wouldn't sit still helped end a 24-hour search for a missing 10-year-old.
A child goes missing
A 10-year-old girl sleepwalks out of her home near Sand Plant Road in Webster Parish, wearing pajamas and no shoes. Family and neighbors search for about an hour before calling the sheriff.
A trail camera, then a massive search
A hunter's trail camera catches her walking in the woods. Law enforcement and hundreds of volunteers comb the area through the day while a helicopter keeps the airspace busy.
DMS heads south
Watching the news from home in Arkansas, co-owner Josh Klober tells his wife they need to go. He drives about an hour and a half, stages a generator and a big-screen monitor, and waits for clearance to fly.
Heat signature found
Flying 30 to 40 yards off the road on a hunch, the thermal camera picks her up, asleep on the forest floor roughly 1.5 miles from home. The drone's spotlight guides deputies straight to her.
“She's awake!”
Cheers go up around the truck. She is checked by EMS and returned to her family: safe, and hungry.
Thermal, strategy & teamwork
Thermal at night
After dark, a child's body heat stands out against cool ground and trees, even under canopy gaps that stop a searcher's flashlight.
Think like the subject
Rather than sweep the whole forest, Josh reasoned a sleepwalking child would stay near the road and searched a tight corridor alongside it.
Shared live feed
A generator-powered big screen let deputies watch in real time, and the drone's spotlight led them straight to her location.
DMS co-owner Josh Klober flew alongside Matt Ramos and Micah Carter, who also brought equipment to the search.
Agencies involved in the search
Webster Parish Sheriff Jason Parker called it a truly cooperative effort.
As seen nationwide
The rescue footage was picked up by national outlets and drone-industry press.
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