Drone helps find missing New Jersey woman with dementia

WESTWOOD, New Jersey (WABC) -- It was a gorgeous fall afternoon when John Heffernan brought his wife, who suffers from dementia and is nonverbal, home from the doctor.

"I said it's a beautiful day. We have a big open front porch with rocking chairs. I said, let's go out and sit on the porch," Heffernan said.

Heffernan then went downstairs to put the laundry in the dryer.

"I was gone for about two minutes. I came back, she was gone," he says.

Heffernan immediately called police... and the search was on.

"My daughter put her a picture of her up on Facebook, and that's when it became a real community affair. Because, my neighbors were out looking neighbors around the block who I don't even know were looking for her," he added.

Police brought in a K9 unit, but it lost the trail.

"I was really getting anxious because it was getting dark. And that's when they, they brought out the drone," said Heffernan.

Less than a mile away, that drone spotted something.

Officers moved in to investigate the area and found her. Scraped and bruised -- but alive.

"She must have tripped over a curb. And then she rolled down an embankment to the bottom," Heffernan said, "she was laying on the ground, face down. It could have been two hours. We have no idea because she was missing for four hours."

"If you made this in January in the same set of circumstances in January and she was out without a coat on or without shoes on, wandering in the freezing weather, we may have a different outcome," said Westwood Chief of Police Michael Pontillo.

The outcome was a relief for everyone.

"Anytime that we have a happy ending to something like this, it's it's a win for everybody, it just, you know, shows you what a tight knit community is all about," Pontillo added.

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