More crews will be out again Sunday looking for a missing Marion County man with the mind of a 3-year-old.
A largely volunteer search effort is underway near Ocklawaha. Volunteers organized at Moss Bluff Baptist Church, located at 17515 SE 95th Street Road.
John Radabaugh Jr. hasn’t been seen since Tuesday when he wandered away from his home on SE 91st Place while raking leaves.
Search teams returned to the Ocklawaha area Friday for a third full day of searching for Radabaugh.
Automated calls went out to homes within 40 miles the night before, explaining though Radabaugh is 48, he has the mind of a 3-year-old.
The Ocklawaha resident was last seen wearing pajama bottoms and a T-shirt. Since then there’s been storms, and overnight temperatures in the 30s.
“Maybe he found some clothes on a clothes line maybe, we are hoping that happened," said his stepmother Kim Radabaugh. "I think he’s a survivor, I think he would find a shelter somewhere to get warm in.”
Posters have been plastered all over southeast Marion County. Digital road signs give his description, about 5'3" and 135 pounds.
“Everyone just wants to help out there’s a sense of just sitting around isn’t appropriate so what can we do?” Marion County Fire Rescue Chaplain Joe Lacagnata said.
Crews are using GPS monitoring to instantly record where they’ve searched back at command headquarters.
The Sheriff’s Office said because of Radabaugh’s mental capacity, they are treating the case as they would a missing child.
Radabaugh's family said he’s probably just looking for toys, and they’ll keep looking for him.
“We’re going to keep looking we’re not going to stop, whether Marion County has exhausted all their searches, we aren’t stopping,” Radabaugh said.
If you see Radabaugh, please call 911.