UPDATE: Benge walked out of woods safely around at 2:34 a.m. Friday.
LAUREL COUNTY, Ky. (LEX 18)– A Golden Alert has been issued for a missing hunter in Laurel County.
The sheriff’s department says 38-year-old Joseph Benge was last seen about 8 a.m. Wednesday morning off Tom Cat Trail.
As search efforts continue, Laurel and Jackson County Emergency Management are jointly working together and have requested the Cumberland Valley Mounted Search and Rescue Team to join in the search. That team is en route to the scene to assist other agencies that have searched throughout the night, and all day today.
Benge is 6 feet tall, 130 pounds, with black hair and a beard. We’re told he has physical and mental disabilities. Family says he likes to keep to himself. Last time he went missing, the ordeal lasted only a few hours, but he ran away when one of the people searching and a dog came up on him.
If you know where he may be, call the sheriff’s office at 606-864-6600.
