Missing woman, 83, found safe near Benton Co. home

BENTON COUNTY, Tenn. — An elderly Benton County woman was missing since Saturday night, and authorities spent two days trying to locate her.

Cell phone video recorded Monday shows Mildred Robinson, 83, being driven home by a neighbor after she went missing sometime on Saturday.

“He spotted her and her dogs, stopped and picked them up and brought them back in on a four-wheeler,” Sheriff Kenny Christopher said. “She had made it about seven miles away.”

Authorities said there was evidence to prove she was nearby, but they still couldn’t find her.

“Ms. Robinson, living in this rural area, has a neighbor that keeps an eye on her pretty regularly, checks on her every day,” Sheriff Christopher said.

James Long, a neighbor, said he takes her food all the time and makes sure she’s OK, but Sunday afternoon she was still missing. “I went back about 4 [p.m.] — she wasn’t there. I started looking around for her, getting everybody involved, then I called her family.”

Neighbors said hours before Robinson went missing on Saturday, she took her afternoon walk along Crossing Lane with her two dogs. They say that’s part of her everyday routine.

“She didn’t do it yesterday. She didn’t come through yesterday,” neighbor Tracey McKay said.

Sheriff Christopher said they found her trail in a nearby woods. “She was back in an area over on North Eagle Creek where she had actually hit some logging trails, and that’s where we found the print, so our dogs was right on track with it, we just didn’t go out far enough.”

EMS arrived to Robinson’s home shortly after she was found.

“For safety reasons, we’re going to take her to the hospital to make sure she’s not dehydrated after two days in the woods without food or water,” Sheriff Christopher said.

Now that Robinson’s been found, Sheriff Christopher said it’s nothing short of a miracle. “Everything is very well and the family’s pleased, and they’re going to take the measures to get her everything that she needs, and we’re going to keep a special watch on her. We don’t want to lose any of our senior citizens.”

Sheriff Christopher said Robinson remembers lying down and taking  a nap with her dogs Sunday night, but she says she didn’t realize she had been gone for two days. Neighbors say she suffers with memory loss and has gone missing before.