K-9 search teams help search for missing Fulton man

Carl DeBrodie has been missing since Monday morning after he walked out of his group home. Local volunteers have been trying to find him ever since.

On Saturday, the group got help from two out-of-town groups. K-9 search-and-rescue teams from St. Louis and Illinois joined the efforts to help find the 31-year-old.

“The K-9s can do things we can’t do,” organizer Kimberly Bodle said. “Once they get on that scent, maybe they can find out where he went.”

“They are revisiting the areas we’ve already come through and they are revisiting them for a purpose,” organizer Shaellea Young said. “Dogs, with their scent and how they work it — we’re very grateful they are here and hopeful.”

DeBrodie has limited vocabulary and a limited mental capacity, according to volunteers, some of whom have never met the man.

“I don’t know why this struck a cord with me,” Bodle said. “My uncle back in New York has a similar mental capacity and I think of him being missing and it makes me sick. I’m sick for the family and if I can do something to help them, I should.”

“He’s one of our own,” Young said. “He’s someone of the community. It’s heart wrenching to think there wasn’t anybody else that was (organizing a search) so we thought, ‘What the heck? Let’s get in there. Let’s help. We need to find Carl and bring him home.'”

Bodle and Young said the Fulton community has been a huge help in the search for DeBrodie.

“We have the people that are volunteering, they are very dedicated,” Bodle said. “Fulton has proven themselves to be a community that is more like a family as opposed to strangers. So when we find that one of our own is missing — and I actually don’t live in Fulton — I see that they are like a big family. When it’s one of their own, they pull together.”

The search group has continued going to door to door to remind residents DeBrodie is still missing and asking private property owners to recheck their land to see if DeBrodie may be there.

“We’re asking people to revisit their property,” Young said. “Anywhere where a person can crawl under and hide. With his mental capacity, he’s going to be scared. If you do come in contact with him, he’s harmless. Please call 911.”

The organizers have created a Facebook page with more information on future searches, including dates and times.