Elderly woman missing for two days found alive; severely dehydrated

COLUMBIA TOWNSHIP, Mich. - An elderly woman missing since Wednesday morning was found alive Friday morning but in pretty poor condition.

Patricia Mulligan, 73, of Columbia Township went missing early Wednesday morning from the 10,000 block of County Road 681.

The Van Buren County Sheriff's Office took a missing report Friday from a woman who called from the west side of the state of Michigan saying that her sister was missing. The caller said that they were not able to reach her by phone since early Wednesday morning. The woman said that her sister suffered from a heart condition and that she worried that something bad happened.

Deputies arrived at Milligan's home and made their way inside where they found her keys, ID and money but she was no where to be found.

After an extensive search deputies found that Mulligan was not at any of the local hospitals and they could find no signs of foul play.

A K-9 was called in and did an extensive search of the wooded area all around Mulligan's home. She was found about a 1/2 mile from her home near a soy bean field. Mulligan was extremely dehydrated, unable to walk and disoriented, but alive.

Deputies directed medical personnel through the soy bean field to their location where they took over.

Mulligan was taken to South Haven Hospital for treatment.

Deputies found that Mulligan was in the woods for at least two days before being found. She was found at least a half mile away from the nearest road.