CLAY TOWNSHIP, Pa. -- An 87-year-old Butler County man who didn't return home after walking his dog was found alive in a swampy area in the thick woods of Clay Township on Wednesday.
Burton Duerring, 87, was OK but went to Butler Memorial Hospital as a precaution because he seemed to be somewhat dehydrated.
"When we got the news, when it came, we were all sitting at the table and we just jumped up and hugged each other, like, 'Oh, this is so great,'" sister-in-law Susan Law said.
Video - Watch Ashlie Hardway's ReportPolice and firefighters had spent much of the past two days looking for Duerring, who they said was known to walk his dog every day near his home on Beaver Dam Road.
Duerring's dog returned home without him on Tuesday afternoon. State troopers, Evans City police officers and firefighters from several fire departments began searching on the ground and from a helicopter shortly after receiving the call at about 4:15 p.m.
After searching about four miles of a thick wooded area until midnight, rescue crews went back to work on Wednesday morning.
"We like to think that we bring a positive result. And last night we didn't. So, that rests heavy on our hearts," said Chief Reid Campbell of the West Sunbury Volunteer Fire Department.
Duerring's son, Burt Jr., told Channel 4 Action News that he went to a Cranberry Township psychic on Wednesday, about an hour before his father was found.
"She says, 'I don't care about the money, I sense unclean, dirty water, is there any streams or swamps around where he was?'" Duerring Jr. said. "And I says, 'Yes, but there's not very many of them, and that's not the way he went.' She says, 'All I can tell you is I sense dirty, unclean water.'"
Searchers found the man after covering trails that they believed Duerring, an avid hunter, may have taken. A big concern for them was that, while Tuesday wasn't as cold as previous nights, Duerring spent the night in the woods.
"He had a jacket on. He's 87, (with) pre-existing health conditions. He's out all night," Campbell said.
Copyright 2009 by ThePittsburghChannel. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
