FSU Student Justin Shields was found on Sunday, September 9th after having gone missing on Wednesday, September 5th. In the times of missing students usually spelling out a bad outcome, discovering that 19 year old Shields was found alive was quite miraculous.
When Shields went missing last week, it was not long before social media was buzzing with the whispers of the missing student. His car had been found, stranded, with his keys, phone, and wallet still inside, casting a grim shadow on the hopes of finding him alive and well. As Wednesday turned to Friday, and Friday became Saturday with the car as the only trace of him, the feeling of looking for a survivor slowly began to change into the search for a body, or at least a clue.
“More than a hundred volunteers joined the Leon County Sheriff’s Office to lend a hand in the search for Shields.” These volunteers included people from the community as well as other law enforcement departments, such as LCSO’s SWAT team, Miccosukee Volunteer Fire Rescue, FSU’s drone team, Jefferson Correctional Institute, Deep South Mud Riders, Floyd County Sheriff’s Office in Georgia and even the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission, who sent boats. LCSO’s Dive Team also assisted by diving into creeks and ponds in the area.
Through all this camaraderie and some luck, Shields was found with the help of LCSO’s K-9 unit within about a mile of where his car was found. Shields’ family thanked everyone involved in the search through a video that was posted to Facebook. It was a happy ending to a scary story.
Shields was dehydrated and disoriented from his adventures in the woods, but was doing just fine health wise apart from that when they found him.
LKG
Sources:
https://www.tallahassee.com/story/news/2018/09/10/fsu-student-missing-da…
https://www.tallahassee.com/story/news/2018/09/09/missing-fsu-student-fo…