NORWICH – At 7 p.m., on Friday, March 28, 2014, the Chenango County 911 center dispatched the Norwich Police to investigate a missing persons case. Officers made contact with the mother of a 16-year-old male. It was learned this was actually a response to a lost subject in a wooded area west of the city limits. The mother told police she had been in cell phone contact with her son who stated that he had become disoriented and lost in a wooded area just west of the City of Norwich. It was learned the missing subject had gone hiking at about 3 p.m.

The 911 center was able to triangulate the cell phone signal of the lost youth just prior to the cellular batteries running out of power.

Norwich Police officers went to Mt Hope cemetery to coordinate a ground search. The Norwich Fire Department was called to provide a ‘Gator’ four wheel drive vehicle that carried a Norwich Police officer and City of Norwich firefighter into the steep pine wooded area. Also called to assist was the Chenango County Bureau of Fire who – in turn – activated the Chenango County Search and Rescue Team.

At approximately 9:05 p.m., Norwich Police Officer Timothy Annesi and Firefighter Zachary Miner located the missing subject in a heavily wooded area one-half mile west of Randall Avenue.

The male subject was returned to a waiting Norwich Ambulance and found to be in good health.

The conditions during the search were approximately 45 degrees Fahrenheit and raining.