Peoria police use aircraft to locate missing woman in remote desert area after car crash

PHOENIX — The Peoria Police Department used its aviation unit to locate a missing woman in a remote desert area after she crashed her car on Friday night.

The Glendale Police Department requested assistance from Peoria police officers around 10:50 p.m. after a woman who suffers from dementia went missing.

The woman’s family members put an AirTag inside her car, which showed her last known location near Lone Mountain Parkway and Vistancia Boulevard.

Officers and Peoria PD’s Real-Time Crime Center were able to narrow the search to a remote desert area near Vistancia after confirming the woman’s car entered the area but never left.

An aviation unit located the car, which was suspended vertically after driving over a retention wall, in a remote and obscured location that would have been difficult for officers on the ground to locate.

Peoria Fire-Medical crews immediately provided the woman with medical care before taking her to a nearby hospital for further treatment.

“This is exactly why we invest in our people, partnership and technology,” Peoria Police Chief Thomas Intrieri said in a news release. “When someone in our community is in crisis, every second matters. Preservation of life is at the core of our mission. … I’m incredibly proud of the professionalism and urgency show by everyone involved. This is what it means to serve with purpose when it matters most.”

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