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Search Menu Home eEdition Today's Events Photo Galleries Video Weather Archive Autos Classifieds Jobs Limelight Deals Real Estate About Sign Up for Alerts Full Site Reset Password Login More Images Show Caption Hide Caption Dr. Ashley Laird is attended by emergency crews after being found Sunday evening on a trail in Forest Park. Hannah Golden / Mail Tribune --> Close Dr. Ashley Laird is attended by emergency crews after being found Sunday evening on a trail in Forest Park. Hannah Golden / Mail Tribune SEARCH AND RESCUE Happy ending: Missing runner Ashley Laird found on third day after outpouring of support By By Hannah Golden Mail Tribune August 28, 2016 - 2:00 AM Search-and-rescue crews high-fived each other after finding Dr. Ashley Laird, 37, the Jacksonville runner missing since Friday morning, in Jacksonville's Forest Park Sunday. Laird was found at 5:30 p.m. by a team of searchers that included her father. The emergency room physician and mother of a 5-year-old went out for a run about 9:15 a.m. Friday and never returned. More than 150 volunteers turned out Sunday morning at Jacksonville Elementary to help the family and authorities search for her. "We couldn't believe it," said Rogue Valley Search and Rescue team leader Rick Klimek. "We were coming to the end of our assignment, and we came around a corner and we looked up, and we saw a lady standing there and we were all surprised and I said, 'Is that her?' and her father said, 'Ashley!' and he ran to hug her." Dr. Laird was transported to Asante Rogue Regional Medical Center, where she works in the emergency room. She was dehydrated and suffered minor bruising and scraping, but appeared to have no severe injuries, according to Jacksonville police. Police didn't have any details Sunday night on what led to Laird's disappearance. "It's amazing," said Jackson County Sgt. Shawn Richards, who had been involved in the search all day. "That's why we do this." Klimek said Laird was found on the bottom of Rail Trail in Forest Park. Klimek, a Phoenix resident, had been leading Team 1, as it was called, since Friday. Sunday's assignment led the group through the Forest Creek trails, up Ol' Miner's Trail and back down Rail Trail. They found her close to the road. She was disoriented but was standing on her own two feet. Laird is an accomplished ultra-distance runner who won the 2014 American River 50-mile run, according to her family. On her Friday run, Laird had neither a cellphone nor a GPS watch that could assist in tracking her. But technology turned out to be a key factor in finding her Sunday. Jacksonville Police Chief David Towe said searchers learned Laird sometimes uses a Garmin GPS watch on her runs, so a search-and-rescue team member looked through her past route history that was stored on the device. Seeing that she'd run in Forest Park before, Sgt. Richards assigned a search team to that area. "If it hadn't been for that, we probably would've ran another direction," Towe said, because family members had said Laird was nursing some injuries that made it seem likely should would have been running on flat roads rather than hilly trails. Had Laird not been found Sunday, emergency officials were prepared to start scaling back their search efforts, Towe said. "We had kind of made a determination that if we didn't have a major development by the end of today ... we would have scaled back. Not necessarily pulled the plug, but it would've been a pretty fair reduction from what we'd been doing for the first couple of days." "I'm so happy, I'm so relieved. It's beyond awesome," said Jenny Hall, a friend of Laird's who had been searching through the weekend. The effort to find Laird expanded quickly after friends and family took to social media Friday evening with news of her plight. The Laird family started a Facebook page called "Find Ashley Laird," which took off over the weekend, garnering 4,000 likes by Sunday afternoon. Laird's husband, Dan Arnold, organized his own grassroots search team over the weekend, Towe said, which was manned by about 25 people. By Sunday morning, Jacksonville Elementary School had been transformed into a hub of tents, emergency vehicles, sandwiches, portable carafes of coffee and bright reflective vests as hundreds volunteered to search. Volunteers poured into the school early Sunday to assist in the search. Others made donations of water and food to help sustain the search effort. In total, Towe estimates about 150 volunteers turned out that day. "This is the first time in the 26 years that I've been here that we had to conduct a search of this scale," Towe said. "The search-and-rescue volunteers, there's only so many," Towe said. "Sgt. Richards ... suspected we would see a large groundswell of support and volunteers, and all day long Saturday, our phone rang here. I had to bring in my office personnel just to answer the phones because dispatch was getting blown up." Two search parties coordinated the effort: one organized by the Jackson County Sheriff's Office and Jacksonville Police Department, and an unofficial party of volunteers helping the family. Sunday's mission also included the Jacksonville Community Emergency Response Team, Mercy Flights and K-9 units. Out-of-county support came from Josephine County Sheriff's Office and Siskiyou County Sheriff's Office. "Had the tables been turned, Jackson County would've been there," said Towe. "I'm very proud of our community." Courtney Laird, Ashley's sister, estimated that at least 80 people went through the family's home Sunday in the search effort. Search parties departed the elementary school around 7 a.m. Sunday. Sgt. Richards estimated at least 20 crews were out, each staffed by five or more people. Jacksonville CERT member Gayle Lewis, who knew the Laird family, was helping sign up volunteers for Sunday's search. Many of the volunteers had been connected to Laird in one way or another, she said. "She has her work family, her community family, her running family," Lewis said. "I got a lot of the medical community signed in here." Other volunteers, such as Michaela Baglietto, did not know the Laird family, but decided to get involved after seeing the information publicized on social media through the weekend. "I just thought, if it were someone I did know and love, I'd want as many people as possible," Baglietto said. "This is a couple more boots." Scott Swanson, a 28-year-old cyclist from Medford, did not know the missing doctor either but took to the pavement to help search for clues. "I'm just familiar with the area, so I decided to help out," said Swanson. He said he knew the roads well given that he cycles roughly 60 to 70 miles a day around the area. He heard about Laird's disappearance Saturday via Facebook and began searching at about 10:30 a.m. Sunday. He'd seen the parties that morning searching by foot, bike and car. "Jacksonville's a pretty tight community," said Lewis. "Most people knew her or her family. Most people I saw had that community spirit. It's Jacksonville — that's what we do." Reach reporting intern Hannah Golden at [email protected] "> [email protected] . Popular Today Dr. Ashley Laird found alive in Forest Park Happy ending Details emerge of Jacksonville runner's ordeal Volunteers, police come up empty in search for runner Laird became lost, suffered severe dehydration, husband says Reader Reaction © Copyright Local Media Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms of Service | Local Media Group Publications | Full Site