OSCEOLA COUNTY, Florida—A body has been found during the search for a 73-year-old Eustis man who went missing in Kissimmee Thanksgiving day, Osceola County Sheriff Marcos Lopez said Thursday afternoon.
Herman McClenton went for a walk in Secret Key Cove in Kissimmee, where he and his family were visiting for Thanksgiving, around 4 p.m. Thursday. McClenton, who suffers from dementia, Lopez said, did not return from his walk.
The Osceola County Sheriff’s Office has searched for McClenton for the past week, utilizing deputies on foot, bloodhounds and aviation. A bloodhound was used today to locate the body, Lopez said.
“During the search, a body of an unidentified black male was discovered in a swampy area. It’s approximately one mile from the residence where (McClenton) was last seen,” Lopez said.
The body was found off State Road 429 in an area that had not been searched until Thursday, along with clothes that matched what McClenton was last seen wearing. The area where the body was found is “very swampy” Lopez said and the water is chest-deep. He said OCSO is still treating this a missing person case involving a person who got lost, he said.
McClenton is the father of 13 children and OCSO spoke with his family Thursday, Lopez said, and deputies are awaiting a positive identification from the medical examiner’s office.
