Cops thought military skills would help missing NC man. Then they found a body
A 75-year-old man with Alzheimer’s disease took his dog for a walk in December and never came back, authorities in North Carolina said.
More than two months later, a cell phone may have led them to his body.
Someone brought a phone they found to the Person County Sheriff’s Office on Tuesday that investigators believed was William Daniel “Danny” Holt’s, the sheriff’s office said in a Facebook post. Hold disappeared Dec. 20.
“Once it was confirmed that the phone belonged to Mr. Holt, authorities reported to the area that the phone was located and began searching,” the post states. “Just before noon, a body was located that is believed to be that of Mr. Holt.”
The sheriff’s office sent the body to state officials for identification.
Holt was reported missing near Roxboro after he took his dog, Chunky, on a walk, McClatchy News reported. The N.C. Center for Missing Persons issued a Silver Alert shortly after 6 p.m. that night.
Authorities were still searching three days later when the sheriff’s held a news conference pleading for the public’s assistance.
Temperatures had been below freezing, but they hoped Holt’s former military skills might aid his survival.
“People can survive longer than that, but 96 hours is — it depends on what kind of survival skills he actually goes into,” Sheriff Dewey Jones said during the news conference on Dec. 23. “This guy is former military. We don’t know if his mind, with his Alzheimer’s, if he’s reverting back to his survival mode. So that could be a plus.”
Then his cell phone turned up.
According to the sheriff’s office, a resident from Woodsdale on the Virginia border — just north of Roxboro — found a cell phone in a field off Eastwood-Long Lane.
Holt went missing in Woodsdale off Shiloh Church Road, the sheriff’s office said. The two roads intersect.
Authorities said a positive identification of the body is still pending.
This story was originally published February 25, 2020 at 4:06 PM with the headline "Cops thought military skills would help missing NC man. Then they found a body."
