At about 5:26p.m. Mark C. Dibble, 58, was located in a wooded area off Ledge road in the Town of Alabama. He was breathing, but not alert when found, but was soon able to be walked out to the road where medical personnel were waiting.
“We spent all day searching a lot of wooded area and then decided to go down to the reservation area,” says Lindsey Dibble, eldest daughter of Mark Dibble.
“We thought he could have possibly walked to this area and it was a last ditch effort for us to look for him and we separated and a friend of ours stumbled upon him and saw him sitting against a tree”
A family friend who was part of the 25 person search crew says Mark told him he had been sitting there all day.
The area was on a ridge with a ledge area, Mark was located with his legs dangling over the ledge with a creek below, according to a search team member.
“He didn’t say too much, he was disoriented and dehydrated.”
He was treated initially on scene and then transported via Mercy Ambulance to ECMC for further evaluation.
“We just had a feeling and went with it, we saw a bald eagle and it went right past us, two seconds later we heard the guy yell, “Mark! Mark!”
My friend said this was a good sign.”
“It was really amazing, we could not have done this without everyone, it was the best ending we could have imagined,” says Chelsie Dibble, Mark’s daughter.
Involved in the two day search were volunteer fire personnel from Indian Falls, Pembroke, East Pembroke, Alabama and Darien, the Genesee County Emergency Management Office, Genesee County Sheriff’s Office and Communications center, Erie County Sheriff’s Aviation unit, NYS Police( aviation, K-9, dive team and drone team), DEC Police K-9 unit, NYS Forest Rangers along with friends, family and community members.