Lake County Sheriff’s Office K9 credited with saving woman’s life

LAKE COUNTY, Ill. — A Lake County Sheriff’s Office canine helped locate an unconscious woman who wandered away from home in mental distress.

On Sunday, Lake County deputies responded to a residence in unincorporated Mundelein for a missing person. Deputies learned that the woman, suffering from a mental state, left her home around 6 p.m. on foot and was not wearing appropriate clothing for the weather.

Deputies said the woman also left without her cell phone.

With family and friends unaware of the woman’s whereabouts, Lake County Sheriff’s Deputy John Forlenza and his canine partner, Dax, responded to the scene.

Dax quickly located the woman about 500 feet from her home, in a wooded area, around 75 feet from a nearby walking path. The unconscious woman was likely suffering from hypothermia, deputies said.

Sheriff John D. Idleburg said the woman is expected to survive and thanked the canine team for their persistence, saying the outcome could have been worse.

“Every day, I continue being impressed by the success of our canine teams,” he said. “…I am very proud of all of my staff who worked together to save this young woman’s life.”