The Richland County Sheriff’s Department reports that the body of a missing Orion Township woman has been located.
Gail Stone, age 79 of rural Muscoda, has been the subject of a missing persons search since early Friday afternoon. The incident began Friday when a vehicle registered to Stone was located in a wooded area off Harry’s Lane in Orion Township. The caretaker of the property located the vehicle and notified authorities. After identifying the owner of the vehicle, a deputy traveled to the owners address but didn’t locate anyone there. More efforts to locate the owner were not successful.
On Saturday afternoon, the Sheriff’s Department was notified that the owner of the vehicle suffered from Alzheimer’s and had not been seen since Tuesday afternoon. Sheriff’s Deputies initiated a search of the area but the search was suspended due to darkness. This morning (Sunday) a larger scale search was organized involving Sheriff’s Deputies, members of several local fire departments including Muscoda, Lone Rock, Richland Center and Blue River, Richland County Emergency Management and a member of the Wisconsin Drone Coalition. Additional help was provided by the property owners and caretaker. Within 45 minutes of starting the search, Gail Stone was located in a ravine in the southern part of the property. A Richland County Coroner pronounced her dead at the scene.
In all approximately 35 people were involved in the search.
Richland County Sheriff James J. Bindl wishes to thank all the emergency responders who participated in the search and also thanks the land owners & neighbors for the assistance they provided.