Reporter covering story of missing woman with dementia ends up finding the 89-year-old
Mike Campbell, a reporter for WWJ in Detroit, was working on a story of a missing 89-year-old woman with dementia when he ended up locating the woman himself, wandering around in the street.
According to authorities, Barbara Kasler left her home around 2:30 a.m. on Wednesday. A missing person alert was issued, and police searched the neighborhood with K-9 units and a helicopter.
Campbell is a reporter known for being at the right place at the right time. Just last Thursday, he helped police catch a robbery suspect who was attempting to loot a business after a fire. Last year, the reporter became part of his own story when covering a fatal pedestrian crash in Detroit. His news car was attacked by a man with a pipe, an incident that was caught live on air.
The reporter, once again, found himself in the right place at the right time when working on the story of the missing woman at around 7:30 a.m. Wednesday.
He noticed a woman wearing pajamas and slippers in the street. When he approached her, he realized it was Kasler.
Barbara Kasler, 89, wandered fr home nr 23 and Van Dyke around 3 a.m. in just p.j.’s and slippers, with a purse. She was found about 7:30 a.m. cold but alive – thank God! Shelby Twp Public Safety took her to a hospital to be checked out. More @WWJ950 and https://t.co/NcwIrwPs9B. pic.twitter.com/8R0F32HUc3
— Mike Campbell (@reportermikec) January 9, 2019
Solving a missing person alert is one way to get a scoop before other outlets.
“I was following a helicopter that was out looking for her,” Campbell said. “I swear — I did a U-turn at an intersection and she wasn’t there when I passed the intersection. But when I finished the U-turn, she just appeared at the back of this car that I had seen before. I recognized it because it had a smashed-in rear end, so I knew I had been in that area already this morning — and there she was. I got out and asked if she was Barbara, and she said, ‘Yeah.'”
Campbell invited Kasler into his news van and blasted the heat. She was alert but confused.
“I am OK, just cold,” she said. “I’m not mad at anybody. I just wanted to do something different.”
Kasler, who seemed to be in good health, was taken to the hospital for observation.
When she was asked what she had been doing all night, Kasler responded, “Actually, not much.”
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