Missing woman found safe after 10 hours thanks to local teen and his drone
Bakersfield teenager Max Bean, left, was one of several people on scene using a drone Sunday to help locate Robin Mullins. That’s how he found her, lying under a tree in a grown up field. Bakersfield VFD photo
Robin Mullins
Tecumseh VFD/JB Duke photo Medical personnel, responders and community members work to load Robin Mullins into an awaiting helicopter ambulance for transport to a Springfield hospital after she was found severly deydrated and in poor condition after spending 16 hours in a field near her home.
After more than 10 hours of searching, a missing Bakersfield woman was found in a field near her home, thanks to the efforts of local teenager Max Bean using his drone.
Robin Mullins was first reported missing by family members just after noon Sunday, Aug. 2, prompting an extensive search by volunteer firefighters, law enforcement with a K9 unit, family members and other community volunteers.
Bakersfield Fire Chief Greg Watts said that in the small town, almost everybody knows him - so he wasn’t surprised when the family contacted him directly Sunday to report the woman missing.
“I told them they needed to contact the sheriff’s department in order to get all the resources there that we’d need to search for her,” Watts told the Times.
He and his crew began searching, along with Tecumseh Assistant Fire Chief JB Duke and several local landowners and community members.
“[Her family] told us that she was last seen around 6:20 that morning. So she had about a six hour head start on us. They said she was up behind a family member’s house that morning, but when they went out a little bit later, her pack of cigarettes and lighter were there, but she was gone,” Watts said.
The searchers combed the nearby field, fighting against the thick and brushy conditions.
“It was so grown up back there, and the adjoining place was really woody. There’s a big black briar patch back there, and we were trying to ride them out. There were more people coming, some with drones...” Watts said. “And then Max Bean, a young boy, showed up. He’s family to her. He brought his little machine out, and he was able to go lower than the other guys and finally found her under a tree in the middle of the field. He alerted family members, and they took off. Me and [wife] Zaylor got back on JB’s fourwheeler after one of our firefighters told us they’d spotted something on the drone that looked like her.”
Watts said the searcher found Robin lying under a tree in the field about a quarter mile from her house. He said she was dehydrated and “pretty bad off.” When responders tried to speak with her, she was in and out of conciousness, he explained. This week’s sheriff’s report shows that responders told the dispatcher they believed she may have had heat stroke.
She was loaded into an awaiting Air Evac helicopter and flown to a hospital in Springfield, where she remained in serious condition at presstime this week. Watts said a family member told him that they were working Tuesday to perform several tests.
Responders were thankful that Ozark County was experiencing a bout of cooler weather this weekend. The high temperature that day was in the mid-80s, far from the over 100-degree heat index the county has experienced recently. “If it had been last week, she probably would have already expired by the time she was found,” he said.
Watts said he was proud of how quickly the community came together to help in the search and was especially thankful for Max Bean’s contribution, which ultimately led to Robin’s safe recovery.
“Thank you to everyone who was able to come out and help search for Robin... We live in a wonderful community and God continues to bless us daily,” Watts said.