PARMA, Ohio — A missing Parma man who was suffering from hypothermia and frostbite was found in the woods by police early Tuesday morning.
At around 1:45 a.m., officers received a call from a woman saying her husband was missing, according to a Parma police news release. The woman told police her husband was walking home from a friend's house, but never made it. His wife said that he often walks through the Metroparks.
The man was last seen at 9:30 p.m. leaving his friend's house after turning down an offer for a ride home, the release states.
Officers began searching immediately and about 20 minutes later, an officer calling out into the woods heard a man yelling for help, officials said. The man was located 500 feet into a heavily wooded area near Center Park.
Eight different Parma officers took turns carrying the man out of the woods to an ambulance, the release states. After spending four and a half hours in the frigid temperatures, the man was suffering from hypothermia and frostbite, and had broken his leg in two places.
The man was transported to Metro Hospital for treatment. Authorities said he had a body temperature of 83 degrees Fahrenheit.
Hospital staff told officers that due to the subfreezing temperatures, he would have died within hours had he not been found.
