A Happy Ending to an Unknown Beginning

WEBSTER COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI) – The search was concentrated around the Mt. Zion Church grave-site, where Allred was last seen.

Agencies from two counties joined forces in the operation.

Webster County Investigator Landon Griffin says it’s a happy day in Webster County.

Although Allred was found hours after search efforts took off, it wasn’t as easy as it may seem.

Investigators and search and rescue teams from Webster and Calhoun County led today’s search.

“Anytime, any county calls us for assistance and it goes both ways, I can call the sheriff’s office and they would be here for me in a moment’s notice. We’re a small organization, they’re a small organization, we have to help each other on a daily basis and we do and we’ll be here until this is over with,” says Calhoun County Sheriff Greg Pollan.

Calhoun County did exactly that, even though rescuers faced obstacles along the way.

“The environment is not helping either, the wind, and things of that nature. You won’t be able to hear hardly in the woods because of the wind blowing through the trees, the sound is going to be an issue. There’s going to be various different things that’s going to cause problems for us,” says Calhoun County EMA Director, Randy Skinner.

Including someone’s state of mind and health.

“It’s never an easy task, but when you throw in mental health issues, it does compound it.”

People with mental health problems may have to take medicine and when someone like Allred goes without it, things become even more unpredictable.

“When it arises to a mental health issue, we do take that pretty seriously and we do try to find the person. We search for anybody missing that you do report missing, but when it comes to any mental health issues, we take it into special consideration,” says Webster County Investigator Landon Griffin.

That special consideration is what led searchers to Allred and a happy ending to an unknown situation.

“This was the last place he was seen and to cover all of our basis and everything. I don’t want something to have had happened to him and he be in the woods and need help and we didn’t conduct a search to look for him, so that’s what we’re here for,” says Griffin.