BUCKINGHAM, Fla. — A Lee County Sheriff's Office bloodhound named Remy helped turn what could have been a tragedy into a miracle after finding a missing 79-year-old man in Buckingham last week.
Joceli Coutinho had been missing for nearly 24 hours when K9 Remy and his handler, Deputy Robert Elwell, tracked him down deep in the brush of Buckingham Trails Preserve on Thursday.
Watch Fox 4's Allie Kaiser meet the bloodhound that helped find a missing man:
"It was a sigh of relief," Elwell said. "We do this for this reason here alone."
The rescue was one of the longest tracks a K9 in the Lee County Sheriff's Office has completed to find a missing person, according to Sheriff Carmine Marceno.
"This could have been absolutely tragic, and the bloodhounds are spectacular," Marceno said.
Elwell explained that Remy was able to track Coutinho's location by following his scent.
"I was able to take a pair of gauze and rub the flip flops for several minutes, and then I placed it into a jar, and then what I do is heat it up to bring the odor actually out, and then that's when I present it to Remington, and then he picks up the track from there," Elwell said.
After narrowing down the search area, it took under 10 minutes from when they gave Remy the scent to when he found Coutinho.
Coutinho's son, Everton Coutinho, said knowing the bloodhounds were searching helped him stay hopeful.
"That kind of kept me going through one of the most - probably the most difficult nights we've had in our entire lives," Everton said.
Everton said his father only suffered a few minor scratches. While his dad doesn't remember much about being lost, Everton shared some of what his father told him about the experience.
"He heard voices, he saw things in the woods, and he just kept praying the entire time because he thought he was going to die," Everton said.
Thanks to Remy's work, Coutinho is expected to go home from the hospital on Tuesday, where he'll be reunited with his own dog, Bieber.
"I said you're going to see Bieber, and you could see his face just lit up with a smile. He's like, yeah, that's what I want right now," Everton said.
Marceno shared that people with a loved one who could wander and forget where they are can complete scent kits, just in case. You can find where to get one here.
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