Salem Carpenter found, tired and thirsty, but OK
UPDATE:Salem Carpenter was found, safe and sound around 4:30 p.m. Monday afternoon. He was located on a farm near Clarks Hill Lake, several miles from his home.
Lincoln County Sheriff Clay Smith said Carpenter was found on Furman Farms on the Augusta Highway, severely dehydrated, tired, thirsty, and “wore out.” He said the boy was taken to the Children’s Hospital of Georgia in Augusta for treatment but was otherwise in good shape.
LINCOLNTON, Ga. — As of 4 p.m. on Sunday search and rescue crews, as well as local residents, were still out searching for Salem Mitchell Carpenter.
Carpenter, 14, was reported missing on Saturday. He was last seen around 11 a.m. on Saturday and is 5 feet, 7 inches tall, weighing 143 pounds, and has blonde hair. He was wearing black or navy gym shorts, a dark shirt and black tennis shoes or brown slides.
According to his parents, Steven and Tammy Carpenter, he is autistic, but very resourceful. He is known to love the woods and the water.
Search crews are concentrating on Ashmore-Barden Road, at the creek past LW’s. A group from Georgia Emergency Search and Rescue is there searching, and a helicopter from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation is flying over, searching from the air.
According to Angel Alonso, with the rescue group, they are searching high and low for Carpenter in the area around LW’s. There are other groups searching wooded areas, as well as areas around the lake shoreline. Groups are searching Plantation Point, Cherokee and Wildwood Park, Trulock Road, Points West, Clarks Hill, Ridge Road Campground, Keg Creek, Bass Road, Camp Daniel Marshall, Bussey Point and Safe Harbor/Tradewinds. There are also people on horseback searching and using a drone to search.
Searchers are asking everyone in the Ashmore-Barden Road area to check the outbuildings on their properties, to be sure he isn’t hiding in one of them. Residents are also asked to keep a lookout especially in the lake areas below Highway 220 in Lincoln County towards the lake, and possibly across the lake into the Wildwood areas.
If you see Carpenter or have any information, call the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office at 706-359-1860.
Editor’s Note: This is a developing story and we will update it as soon as more information is available.