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I heard the initial traffic on the missing person BOLO and subsequent search while I was in Palestine at the baseball tournaments.
Once AT&T gave SFSO the GPS for the location of her last phone call they got on the ball and started the search. The lady had early stage Alzheimer's and was supposed to be going to Wal-Mart in Brinkley Friday night.
One dies, One seriously hurt in plane crash
Moro woman also dies in auto accident
Published: June 09, 2008
Kendall Owens, T-H Staff Writer
A plane crash Saturday morning in just east of the Forrest City Municipal Airport left a local woman dead and the pilot of the airplane in serious condition at the Regional Medical Center in Memphis.
According to a report from the St. Francis County Sheriff’s Department, emergency officials received a call just before noon Saturday reporting that the Cessna 150 airplane had gone down in a field near the airport. According to the report the plane was piloted by Vester Wroten, 87, 260 SFC 420, Forrest City, and carried one passenger, Betty Sanders, 74, 1057 N. Izard, Forrest City. Both Sanders and Wroten had to be extricated from the plane and transported to the Med by helicopter for injuries they suffered in the accident. Sanders later died at the hospital and Wroten was listed in serious condition this morning according to officials with the Med.
A witness to the accident said that it appeared that the plane may have stalled either during an attempt to either land the aircraft or take off.
“I don’t know if he was trying to land or if he was taking off, but when I saw the plane it was almost straight up in the air between the hangers and East Arkansas Turbines,” said Mike Shepherd. “I don’t know if the wind caught them or what actually happened, but I could see them drifting back towards the east and that’s when they went down.”
Other witnesses said that Wroten and Sanders had been seen in Walnut Ridge earlier Saturday morning and were flying back to Forrest City when they left Walnut Ridge.
St. Francis County Office of Emergency Services Coordinator Shane Dallas said that the Forrest City Fire Department was dispatched to the scene and removed Sanders and Wroten from the plane. Dallas also said that officials with the Federal Aviation Administration were notified of the accident Saturday and were on the scene within hours. Dallas said that he had not received a report from FAA officials as of this morning.
A Moro woman was also killed during an accident Saturday. According to a report from the Arkansas State Police, Mary Louise McElroy, 69, of Moro, was found inside her vehicle along Highway 78, north of Moro. According to the report, McElroy’s vehicle left the road and struck a culvert. The report also said that the Brinkley Police Department had issued a welfare concern regarding McElroy Friday night. According to Dallas, St. Francis County officials spent several hours searching for McElroy’s vehicle Saturday morning.
“We received a call in regard to a welfare concern and so the Sheriff’s deputies went out along with St. Francis County EMS and the Wheatley police and fire departments and searched the area. We contacted her cell phone provider and they gave us some general coordinates from the last are that they received a signal and we searched a two mile area around those coordinates. The search went from about 8 o’clock Saturday morning until about noon and a few hours after that we received a telephone call from Lee County notifying us that they had found Mrs. McElroy’s vehicle just inside the Lee County line on Hwy. 78, south of Wheatley,” said Dallas.
Once AT&T gave SFSO the GPS for the location of her last phone call they got on the ball and started the search. The lady had early stage Alzheimer's and was supposed to be going to Wal-Mart in Brinkley Friday night.
One dies, One seriously hurt in plane crash
Moro woman also dies in auto accident
Published: June 09, 2008
Kendall Owens, T-H Staff Writer
A plane crash Saturday morning in just east of the Forrest City Municipal Airport left a local woman dead and the pilot of the airplane in serious condition at the Regional Medical Center in Memphis.
According to a report from the St. Francis County Sheriff’s Department, emergency officials received a call just before noon Saturday reporting that the Cessna 150 airplane had gone down in a field near the airport. According to the report the plane was piloted by Vester Wroten, 87, 260 SFC 420, Forrest City, and carried one passenger, Betty Sanders, 74, 1057 N. Izard, Forrest City. Both Sanders and Wroten had to be extricated from the plane and transported to the Med by helicopter for injuries they suffered in the accident. Sanders later died at the hospital and Wroten was listed in serious condition this morning according to officials with the Med.
A witness to the accident said that it appeared that the plane may have stalled either during an attempt to either land the aircraft or take off.
“I don’t know if he was trying to land or if he was taking off, but when I saw the plane it was almost straight up in the air between the hangers and East Arkansas Turbines,” said Mike Shepherd. “I don’t know if the wind caught them or what actually happened, but I could see them drifting back towards the east and that’s when they went down.”
Other witnesses said that Wroten and Sanders had been seen in Walnut Ridge earlier Saturday morning and were flying back to Forrest City when they left Walnut Ridge.
St. Francis County Office of Emergency Services Coordinator Shane Dallas said that the Forrest City Fire Department was dispatched to the scene and removed Sanders and Wroten from the plane. Dallas also said that officials with the Federal Aviation Administration were notified of the accident Saturday and were on the scene within hours. Dallas said that he had not received a report from FAA officials as of this morning.
A Moro woman was also killed during an accident Saturday. According to a report from the Arkansas State Police, Mary Louise McElroy, 69, of Moro, was found inside her vehicle along Highway 78, north of Moro. According to the report, McElroy’s vehicle left the road and struck a culvert. The report also said that the Brinkley Police Department had issued a welfare concern regarding McElroy Friday night. According to Dallas, St. Francis County officials spent several hours searching for McElroy’s vehicle Saturday morning.
“We received a call in regard to a welfare concern and so the Sheriff’s deputies went out along with St. Francis County EMS and the Wheatley police and fire departments and searched the area. We contacted her cell phone provider and they gave us some general coordinates from the last are that they received a signal and we searched a two mile area around those coordinates. The search went from about 8 o’clock Saturday morning until about noon and a few hours after that we received a telephone call from Lee County notifying us that they had found Mrs. McElroy’s vehicle just inside the Lee County line on Hwy. 78, south of Wheatley,” said Dallas.
