Python hunters find missing Florida woman hundreds of miles from home

TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — A 75-year-old woman who disappeared from her home in Marion County, Florida, was found by python hunters hundreds of miles away near Miami.

The Marion County Sheriff’s Office first issued a Silver Alert for Darlene Peck after she went missing on Tuesday.

Deputies said Peck, who suffers from dementia, had left her Umatilla home to go to Ocala, about an hour away, sometime in the early afternoon. Her husband arrived home later that evening and contacted the authorities upon learning she had not yet returned.

The Marion County Sheriff’s Office said her car, a 2013 Nissan Rogue, was then spotted on Wednesday morning in Coral Gables, about 270 miles away from Umatilla.

“If you have any information on her whereabouts, please call 911,” deputies wrote in the Silver Alert.

Later that afternoon, the Marion County Sheriff’s Office confirmed that Peck had been found “by python hunters” in South Florida. A representative for the department did not return a request for comment on where, specifically, the python hunters discovered Peck.

“She is in good health and reunited with her family,” deputies wrote.