Drone Teams Helps Find Missing Hiker In Stafford County Park

STAFFORD COUNTY, VA — A missing hiker was found in Civil War Park in Stafford County Saturday morning after the sheriff’s office deployed a drone to help find him.

At about 1:15 a.m. on Feb. 17, Stafford County sheriff’s deputies responded to Civil War Park on Mount Hope Church Road for a missing 36-year-old male hiker. The hiker had become separated from a fellow hiker and was last seen at midnight.

With decreasing temperatures, high wind chill, and mixed precipitation, deputies prioritized finding the hiker, who they learned was not properly dressed for the weather and that his phone battery had died.

Deputies with the sheriff’s office’s UAS Team, also known as the Drone Team, were called out to conduct a methodical search of the park. Shortly before 6 a.m. on Feb. 17, they spotted the missing hiker.

Using the drone, they were able to lead the rescue team directly to the missing hiker so they could bring him to safety, according to the sheriff’s office.