Scent Evidence K9 Partners Achieve Over 700 Finds!
Scent Evidence K9 Partners Achieve Over 700 Finds! Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office Dep. Anthony Yannuzzi and K9 Patriot reached the 700th find milestone with the safe recovery of a missing endangered man in early November 2024. Dep. Yannuzzi and K9 Patriot got their 12th find on 11-9-24 when they responded to help locate an endangered man that had been missing from his residence for 7 hours. Dep. Yannuzzi collected a scent article and deployed K9 Patriot, a scent discriminate Bloodhound, from the street in front of the man’s residence. K9 Patriot trailed through highly trafficked residential areas on all hard surfaces to a Home Depot parking lot. When K9 Patriot began to show a proximity alert, Dep. Yannuzzi radioed to Patrol Officers to flood the parking lot and look for the missing person. K9 Patriot continued to trail as an officer located the man in a shed in the parking lot 20 ft. from the Jacksonville Bloodhound Team. K9 Patriot trailed to the person, signaled an alert, and was rewarded with loud praise and his favorite toy.
“Dep. Yannuzzi used his scent discriminate trailing skills to find the missing man quickly and bring him home safe. He also used his response protocol training to direct search resources to the right location for the recovery,” stated Scent Evidence K9 CEO, Paul Coley. Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office has been a Bringing The Lost Home Program partner agency and has trained with Coley for several years. To date 712 missing persons and suspects locations have been reported by our partner agencies and organizations using Scent Evidence K9 scent discriminate K9s, K9 handler and response training, and scent collection techniques and technology.
Scent discriminate K9 teams from Florida to California have located hundreds of missing endangered missing persons and the need for these specialized K9 search skills grows daily. People with Alzheimer’s Disease and children with autism are among the highest at-risk groups for wandering. “60% of people with dementia or 3 in 5 will go missing and the number is almost as high for children with autism. Our mission is for communities to have a well-trained scent discriminate K9 team ready to respond and bring them home safe to their families and caregivers. Every second counts when lives are on the line,” stated Scent Evidence K9 CEO, Paul Coley.
Scent Evidence K9 partners also use the same scent discriminate K9 trailing techniques to locate criminal suspects. “Whether our partners are deploying to locate a criminal suspect or bring an endangered child home, they are using advanced scent discriminate K9 response skills to achieve their mission. They are doing difficult and critical work to keep their communities safe,” stated Coley.
K9 Teams like Dep. Angela Keller and K9 Wyatt (Orange County Sheriff’s Office FL), Sgt. Emmett Merritt and K9 Grace (Putnam County Sheriff’s Office, FL), Cpl. Josh Pressley and K9 Becka (Banks County Sheriff’s Office, GA), Dep. Allan Darcey and K9 Roscoe (Orange County Sheriff’s Office, FL) and Dep. Gabe Jasso and K9 Keva (San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Dept., CA) all made significant K9 search recoveries that helped reach the 700 Find milestone. Here are a few highlights from recent K9 searches by our agency partners. THANK YOU to our incredible Bringing The Lost Home K9s and handlers for the work you do every day to keep your community safe. To see more of their stories visit and follow our Facebook or Instagram pages.
Banks County GA Bloodhound Team Locates Endangered Man Missing For 3 Days!
On October 21, 2024, Corporal Pressley and K9 Becka, a scent discriminate Bloodhound, were contacted by investigators working on a missing persons case in Banks County GA. The information available was that the 49-year-old male with physical, medical, and possible psychological disabilities had not been heard from in three days. Evidence on scene suggested the missing man may have walked into the wooded area behind his residence on Friday, October 18. Corporal Pressley responded to the scene and collected odor from the subject’s bedding using an SEK9 Scent Kit and the absorption method. K9 Becka was deployed in the back yard of the residence and established a trail leading into an overgrown area. Becka trailed past a shoe and two vapes and continued into an area overgrown with kudzu. Becka trailed through the kudzu across areas that were obviously pushed down. Becka trailed past a single $1.00 bill lying in the kudzu and then over a red t-shirt. After making a few loops in the kudzu, K9 Becka pulled through briars so dense that they had to crawl approximately 50 yards into more open woods. The trail led to the left down the hill toward a large creek. Becka continued along the bank of the creek occasionally pulling into the water. The trail led the same direction as the water flow for about a half mile (walking distance weaving in and out of brush and water was approximately 2 miles). After trailing to an area under a bridge on Hwy 441 the trail was called to give K9 Becka a break. Becka showed strong interest in the water and far side of the creek pulling back upstream. After the break, the K9 team relocated back to the residence and redeployed. After showing the same behavior Becka was cast further downhill to the right of the original trail with the intent to check the immediate area more thoroughly and attempting to pick up on any trails leading back upstream on the far side of the creek. As they worked the hillside, K9 Becka gave a sudden change in behavior and began trailing downhill towards the creek. Becka pulled hard down the hill for about 200 yards and located the missing man lying down beside the creek. The man was able to sit up as they approached. K9 Becka pulled to him and gave a positive alert by sitting beside him with her tail wagging. EMS were notified and family members were able to reach the scene with an ATV for extraction. The man was found covered from head to toe in scratches with visible injury to multiple parts of the body and appeared to be dehydrated and hypothermic. K9 Becka was rewarded with excited praise and dog treats. Temperatures overnight from Friday through Sunday were in the high 30’s-low 40’s. The subject did not know how many nights he had been in the woods.K9 Keva Quickly Racks up Multiple Search Deployment Finds!
Dep. Gabe Jasso and K9 Keva from San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Dept. were called in to assist Rialto PD after their Motor Sergeant was side swiped/rear ended by a drunk driver as he was on a traffic stop. The motorcycle kicked back towards the sergeant throwing him to the ground. The suspect’s vehicle was located abandoned a short distance away. K9 Keva quickly got to work locating the suspect who was taken into custody by officers. The driver of the vehicle was identified as the sole and single occupant of the vehicle by a witness who saw her exit the vehicle. The female is being held on 4 different felony charges. This was Keva’s 5th find in two weeks and 3rd find in 48 hours. Keva was happy to see that the Motor Sgt. was fine and welcomed the ear rubs for a job well done by everyone.K9 GRACE TRACKS 4-DAY OLD TRAIL, FINDS MISSING MAN ALIVE
We are ecstatic to report William Scott was found alive earlier today in the area of Florida Rock’s sand pits after leaving his home late Friday evening.
Orange County Sheriff’s Office Bloodhound Team Uses Scent Kit to Find Missing Elderly Woman with Dementia!
On 7-17-24 Dep. Allan Darcey and K9 Roscoe responded to a call to help locate a 76-year-old woman with dementia who had been missing for 45 min. Dep. Darcey presented the missing woman’s Scent Kit to K9 Roscoe and they began trailing in the high humidity 92-degree Florida weather. K9 Roscoe trailed and quickly located the woman who was 5 houses away in the stoop where she had fallen. “Dep. Darcey and K9 Roscoe used their advanced scent discriminate trailing skills to find the woman fast in the dangerous Florida heat. We train our Bloodhounds to ID the target by sitting and they often become comfort dogs in cases like this. This type of alert and post recovery behavior helps keep the missing person calm and safe,” stated Scent Evidence K9 CEO, Paul Coley.
This is the 3rd missing person recovery by Florida Bringing The Lost Home agencies using a Scent Kit in the past 3 weeks! Orange County Sheriff’s Office is a participating Bringing The Lost Home program agency and K9 Roscoe was donated to the agency by Senior Resource Alliance in Orlando. Dep. Darcey is a certified SEK9 Master Handler, and the Central Florida Bloodhound Team has many missing person recoveries and suspect locations to their credit.
OCSO K9 bloodhound Roscoe, and his human, Master Deputy Allan Darcey, successfully recovered a missing woman last week, thanks, in part, to the Scent Collection kits we provide to the community through our partnership with the Senior Resource Alliance. The video HERE highlights the crucial role our K9 units play in keeping our community safe.
