K-9 with Richland County Sheriff’s Department finds missing 78-year-old man

COLUMBIA, SC (WOLO) — When 78-year-old Willie Williams went missing on July 10th in Eastover, the Richland County Sheriff’s Department began a search and rescue mission to find him, with the help of its K-9 unit.

K-9 Shadow is an eight-year-old German Shepherd. Her handler, K-9 Specialist Michel Galliot, says of the five dogs he operates within their K-9 unit, only Shadow is trained to locate a missing person by picking up on human scent.

“So anybody she finds in the woods, she will come to alert me. If I give her a scent, she is going to be scent discriminating and looking for only that kind of scent,” says Galliot.

Williams has medical conditions requiring regular care. When he went missing, members of the Richland County Sheriff’s Department knew they had to act quickly.

Their best hope was K-9 Shadow. Galliot says family members provided him with personal articles for Shadow to smell. He says the best articles are those that only the missing person typically touches like their pillowcase or socks.

Within three hours of beginning her search, Galliot says Shadow had located Williams’ scent.

“She started to patrol back and forth, and at one point she just took off into the woods,” Galliot says.

When Shadow finds a missing person, she is trained to immediately come back to Galliot to alert him.

“She comes to me, she jumps on me, I tell her ‘Yes. Show me,’ and she takes me back to the person,” Galliot says.

According to the sheriff’s department, Williams had fallen into a ravine about 400 yards from where he was staying.

“He was laying down, face down, probably from the result of a fall or something. I got on my knees and I could hear him talking, he was trying to talk. I found a pulse and told the officer we need to call the medics,” says Galliot.

The sheriff’s department reports that Williams’ family was elated and relieved. Family members say Williams was hospitalized for several days following the incident but has a good prognosis.

Galliot says there are no words to describe finding someone alive.

“I mean it’s a lot of adrenaline first. I find a lot of people, unfortunately they’re not always alive. But when they’re alive I cannot describe it. I mean, you can tell even the dog is reacting to it — how happy the dog is,” says Galliot.

And Shadow’s reward for finding someone who’s gone missing?

Not a treat, says Galliot, but a toy. “A lot of people believe dogs don’t have souls. I don’t agree with that,” Galliot says.

According to the K-9 unit, Shadow also found a missing woman in Calhoun County in July of last year.

If you would like to support Shadow and the rest of her K-9 unit, the Richland County Sheriff’s Department will be holding a “Guardians of the Night 5-k Race” on July 29th at the SC State Fairgrounds.

Gates will open at 7 p.m.