SKOWHEGAN — A 92-year-old man died this week days after he had gone missing in frigid weather, prompting a police search that resulted in him being found shoeless and injured at the bottom of a hill, according to a police statement.
Roger L. Wing was reported missing last weekend, according to the statement posted to the Police Department’s Facebook page.
Police were alerted when a “frantic” relative of Wing knocked on the window of an officer’s cruiser to explain he was missing. The officer was told Wing, who suffered from dementia, had been missing for more than two hours in temperatures that had dipped into the teens.
It wasn’t clear if Wing walked away from his home or some other residence, and police Chief David Bucknam did not respond to messages seeking additional details.
A search was launched and Detective Sgt. Kelly Hooper said in the statement that she later spotted Wing behind a fallen tree at the bottom of a hill in a wooded area. Hooper said Wing was unable to speak and was suffering the effects of hypothermia. Emergency medical personnel arrived to treat him.
The statement did not indicate where the search was conducted nor where Wing was found. Skowhegan fire Chief Ronnie Rodriguez said Wing was found early Sunday morning but did not have additional details to provide. Fire Department personnel assisted with the search, he said.
Wing, a lieutenant in the U.S. Army who served in the Korean War, died a few days later “warm, safe and with family,” Hooper said in the statement.
It was not clear if his death was related to hypothermia or the injuries he suffered while missing.
Wing had wandered away while wearing his Army hat and police had taken possession of it after he was found and given medical care, Hooper said. Wing’s wife later called inquiring about the hat because her husband had asked where it was. Police returned it to Wing before he died.
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