SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A Wyoming man with dementia who wandered away from home and hitchhiked to Salt Lake City is safe after his wife spotted him in a TV news segment about helping those in need.
Ninety-one-year-old Michael Black ended up at Rescue Mission of Salt Lake, over 200 miles (320 kilometers) away from the couple’s home in Afton in western Wyoming’s Star Valley.
After arriving at the shelter, Black was recorded in a KSL News segment about feeding people in need at Thanksgiving time. The Salt Lake City station’s broadcast zone extends into Wyoming, where Avril Black happened to be tuned in and watching.
“I thought, ‘Wait a minute, I’m sure I saw Michael.’ So I paused the TV, set it back, and yeah, sure enough, there he was,” Avril Black, 77, told KSL News.
He had been missing for three days, the station reported.
Police entered Michael Black’s information into a database after his wife reported him missing Nov. 25. Tipsters helped police map his journey through southern Idaho and into northern Utah, where the trail went cold.
But one more lift got Black from a bus station to the rescue mission, where he got to talking with Jay Rouse.
“I realized this sweet, old man was in need of some help,” said Rouse, the shelter’s chapel lead.
On Nov. 27, Avril Black spotted her white-haired husband in a black coat having dinner among dozens of others on the 10 p.m. news.
“It was so unreal. I was so relieved. I actually slept that night,” she told the station.
Police confirmed Michael Black’s identity. Avril drove to get him.
“I’m speechless. It just blows me away that it happened. Boy, does he have some guardian angel looking after him,” she said.
