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Bill Wheeler Still Missing After 1 Year

ORT SMITH, Ark. --

In April of 2009, Shirley Wheeler said her ex-husband Bill Wheeler came to stay with her at her home near Greenwood.Wheeler said Bill had been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease and suffered from dementia.On the morning of April 29 around 5:30 a.m., Wheeler said she woke up and Bill was no where to be found."By the time I woke up and found him missing, I drove around looking and called 911. He couldn't of been too far by then," Wheeler said.Rescue workers from all over Sebastian and surrounding counties formed a search party.Crews said they think Bill Wheeler wondered off and did not find him anywhere in the community.Almost a year later, Shirley Wheeler still has hope he will come home."I have been praying and I know the children have been, too, that God will just bring him home," Wheeler said. "It scatters you inside."Deputies with the local sheriff's departments said even though they only see cases like Wheeler's about once a year, it's a serious problem."If they're 80 and in their mind they're 20, their body will function like it's 20 until it completely shuts down," said Crawford County Chief Deputy Ron Brown.The Crawford County Sheriff's Department is one of the few Departments in Arkansas that has recently implemented Project Lifesaver.Project Lifesaver was purchased by the department with drug forfeiture money.The department has a receiver that can track a device on a bracelet.The bracelets are given to people who suffer from a mental illness.If a person with the bracelet were to go missing, the Crawford County Sheriff's Department would use the device to track the bracelet.Right now the sheriff's department only hosts 14 clients through the program.The bracelets are provided by the Summit Women's Auxiliary, which takes donations from the community to buy them.Shirley Wheeler said the bracelets are something that would have come in handy for her one year ago."I think we would have found him," Wheeler said.

James Casey

OZARK, Ark. --

In 1983, James Casey disappeared from his home north of Ozark on Highway 219.Dixie Rodriguez said she was at the home that day and was 7 when she last saw her dad." We were standing in the backyard. My mom was cutting my hair, and I remember he was standing there looking at us in the front yard and that was the last time I saw him," Rodriguez said.Rodriguez said rescue workers searched for Casey for two days but nothing turned up.Two years later, investigators discovered a skull and bones in a wooded area across from the home.Casey's family and investigators said they suspected the bones belonged to Casey but DNA analysis did not exist then.Franklin County Sheriff Reed Haynes said the bones sat in a crime lab for more than 20 years.Reed said recently a lab in Texas was able to extract DNA from the skull.Franklin County deputies went to Rodriguez and her sister for DNA to see if it matched the skull. Investigators determined it did."I think it was a 29 million to 1 probability that it was him," Rodriguez said.Casey's family said they're glad they finally have some peace but are still wondering what happened to him the day he disappeared."It was horrible not knowing what happened to him," Rodriguez said.Family members said a medical examiner couldn't determine the cause of Casey's death.Investigators suspect he suffered from Alzheimer's disease and wandered away.Family members suspect foul play."I think someone did something to him and took him away from the house," Rodriguez said.Rodriguez said she has accepted the fact that she may never know for sure and wishes she could talk to her dad one more time."I love him and miss him," Rodriguez said.James Casey's family said they will bury his remains at an Ozark cemetery on Saturday.Casey will be buried along side his parents and siblings.

A.C. Cunningham’s Body Found in Woods

The search for a missing Hot Spring County man ended Saturday when his body was located in a rural area southeast of Malvern.

75-year-old A.C. Cunningham was reported missing on Monday and on Friday police told the family they were pulling the official search party but friends kept scouring nearby woods. On Saturday a group of five found his body in the woods about three miles from his home; his arms clenching his chest.

Cunningham was in the advanced stage of Alzheimer's and had been known to walk off alone.

The body will be sent to the state crime lab for an autopsy, but a sheriff's spokesman said he believes Cunningham died of hypothermia and that no foul play is suspected.

A.C. Cunningham Cancelled

The Hot Spring County has inactivated the following Silver Alert. Point of contact for additional information is Sheriff Ryan Burris - (501) 332-7412.

A.C. Cunningham

A.C. Cunningham Missing