State Police K-9 Tracks and Finds Runaway Girl

HAGERSTOWN, IN - On January 29, 2010, at about 9 p.m. Trooper Barry Bischoff and his K-9 partner Gaston answered the call to assist the Hagerstown Police Department in looking for a 15-year-old girl who had run away. 

The girl apparently left her house in the 15 degree weather wearing nothing but her pajamas and a blanket.

Bischoff and Gaston tracked the girl's prints in the snow while battling the cold windy conditions.  After a little more than an hour they located her curled up under a pine tree more than a mile away from her home. 

"The tree branches were so thick I couldn't even see her, but Gaston did," Bischoff said.

The young female was returned home by Hagerstown Police. She was cold, but grateful. 

Bischoff remarked, "I'm just glad Gaston and I could help. I'm not sure how much longer she could've lasted in this weather dressed like that."

Trooper Barry Bischoff