LANESVILLE, Ind. (WDRB) -- For days, there was no sign of 81-year-old Larry Gelbach, hundreds of people searching the thick southern Indiana forest that surrounds his home.
Gelbach disappeared Friday afternoon, last seen walking away from his home in the 6600 block of State Road 62 in Lanesville in an unknown direction.
On Sunday, a team of 300 volunteers assisted in a grid search. Carson Denny, a family friend, finally heard something. Oct. 16, 2023. (WDRB Photo)
Police searched with drones, on foot, with K-9's and vehicles. They also checked surrounding hospitals.
"There were a lot of people that had kind of gotten discouraged, and I was probably one of them," said Carson Denny, a member of the search team. "I thought that we had already exhausted all of the areas we thought he would be, that it was time to probably look in areas we didn't think he would be."
On Sunday, a team of 300 volunteers assisted in a grid search. Denny, a family friend, finally heard something.
"I actually was about 10 yards from him, and Mr. Gelbach actually called. He made a sound twice," Denny said Monday. "He was laying in a dry creek ravine, kind of curled up and obviously scared."
Denny immediately covered Gelbach in a sweatshirt and called rescuers. The 81-year-old suffering from dementia had survived two nights alone in the cold, wet forest.
Larry Gelbach's family said he's recovering in the hospital and will be released in a few days.
"I just asked him not to move and covered him up and comforted him," Denny said. "I asked him if he was OK, and he stated that he had lost his wallet."
The location where Gelbach was found was one of the last checks in a grid with a number that stuck out to Denny.
"It happened in grid No. 22, which is a number I've worn my whole life in sports and both my children wear," he said. "You look at those things ... and it's pretty amazing."
Gelbach's family said he's recovering in the hospital and will be released in a few days.
"It really speaks to the will to live," Denny said. "It really does. Larry's will to live is what is amazing."
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