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The body of Robert Hageman, 78, missing since Jan. 30, was found Thursday in a field in Franklin Township.
CELINA - A 78-year-old missing endangered Beavercreek man was found deceased on Thursday morning nearly three months after he was first reported missing.
The body of Robert W. Hageman was located by a farmer at about 7 a.m. in a field near the area of 6213 Sebastian Road in Franklin Township, according to Mercer County Sheriff Jeff Grey. An investigation is ongoing and there is currently no indication of foul play, he said.
Hageman's body was discovered approximately 1,135 feet southeast of where his vehicle was initially found on Jan. 31, he said. Grey said it appeared Hageman's body had been at the site since he was reported missing.
This map locates where the body of a missing Beavercreek man was found on Thursday.
"We're frustrated. I'm frustrated that we didn't find him sooner," he said Tuesday afternoon. "We're scratching our heads."
Hageman, who had dementia, was reported missing at 8:08 p.m. Jan. 30 to the Beavercreek Police Department, according to a county sheriff's office news release on Thursday. At 11:44 a.m. Jan. 31, his silver 2005 Buick Lesebre was found near the Overdrive venue on U.S. Route 127.
The same day, search parties consisting of Mercer County Sheriff's deputies, Celina Police Department officers, Montezuma Fire Department volunteers, Coldwater Fire Department volunteers and local residents searched on foot and on ATVs and UTVs as temperatures dipped below 20 degrees. A K-9 unit and a private airplane were also deployed.
Buildings, open fields, creeks and ditches and wooded areas were searched, and the search ceased around 4:30 p.m. Jan. 31 after those initial efforts turned up no leads, according to the release.
Over the coming days, the sheriff's office conducted extensive, miles-long searches of the surrounding area with assistance from other agencies and encouraged landowners in the area to check their properties for Hageman as temperatures remained low.
According to authorities, Robert Hageman's body was found in this Franklin Township field on Thursday.
A helicopter search from the Ohio State Highway Patrol Aviation Unit and OSHP troopers yielded no leads on Feb. 1. Additional foot searching of the area continued, checking under bridges, inside culverts and in or under pine trees within a 4 square mile area of where Hageman's vehicle was located, according to the release.
Officials contacted area hotels and businesses to the north and south of the Overdrive to check if he had been seen.
A search party consisting of 10 members of EquuSearch Midwest, a Columbus-based branch of Texas EquuSearch, a non-profit search and recovery team, in addition to the other search parties was also unsuccessful on Feb. 2. Deputies met with Hageman's family the same morning.
On Feb. 3, detectives from the sheriff's office and Beavercreek Police Department met and discussed the case and the joint effort moving forward, according to the release, and deputies searched the area again.
"We had drones, planes, ATVs …" Grey said, enumerating the resources expended during the search. Despite that list, including previously searching the field where Hageman was found, the sheriff said he couldn't explain why he wasn't found sooner.
"I can't explain it other than there were plenty of people out there searching for him for the right reasons," he said. "I'm glad we found him so his family has some sort of closure, but it took us this long to find him … it's frustrating."
