DANVILLE, W.Va. — “What a great day. What an absolutely what a great day,” said Boone County Sheriff Chad Barker.
Barker confirmed the man who has been the subject of a weeklong search in Boone County has been found. Alex Shear, 24, was cold and hungry, but otherwise okay.
“They’re getting him warmed up, getting some food and fluids in him with IV. We’ve talked to him a little bit and he just said he was out in the woods by himself,” Barker explained.
Shear is autistic, so when he wandered away from his home last Tuesday, the search to find him was intensified immediately. Volunteers turned out from all over West Virginia as well as some neighboring states to help scour the rugged countryside around his hometown of Danville to look for him. Through the weekend the search intensified with both tracking dogs and cadaver dogs, drones, helicopters, and foot searches. There was no sign of him.
Despite the lack of any positive sightings, Barker and his deputies remained hopeful on Monday, but admitted it was a struggle not to start letting doubt creep in.
The county 911 center got a call from a passer by on Price’s Branch around 7:30 a.m. Tuesday. The passerby noted a man who had walked out of the woods and on the road, naked, and was walking along the road.
“The lady that stopped we’re very grateful that she stopped and called. I’d say under normal circumstances she probably wouldn’t have stopped for that, but she was aware of the missing person and thought that’s probably who it was,” Barker explained.
It’s unclear why Shear was without clothes, or even where they were. Barker said because of his autism it’s difficult to communicate with him to answer the questions they have. But Barker felt confident Shear was telling the truth and was simply lost in the woods.
“It is very difficult, but he is coherent and talking. Some things he doesn’t understand, and it’s hard for him to communicate certain things, but he’s been a trooper so far,” Barker added.
Barker said he and his department along with Shear’s family were deeply grateful for the outpouring of support and volunteers from the public and from other law enforcement agencies who sent resources to help with the week-long search.