Moore County drone finds missing 11-year-old girl

MOORE COUNTY (WTVD) -- A missing child has been located thanks to the Moore County Sheriff's Office's drone.

Thursday night, Moore County sheriff's deputies were dispatched to a residence off of Flowers Road in Jackson Springs, North Carolina, in reference to a missing 11-year-old girl.

Deputies initially began their search on the ground.

Shortly after, Moore County Sheriff's Office drone pilot, Lieutenant Tim Davis, arrived at the residence with the Matrice 210 Drone and immediately launched it to search for the child.

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Within 15 minutes, a heat signature was observed in the woods about 100 yards from the residence across the highway.

Davis directed officers on foot to that location.

The small child was asleep underneath thick tree limbs and brush.

"This is a perfect example of why we invested in this drone capability," said sheriff Neil Godfrey.

The DJI Matrice 210 Unmanned Aerial Vehicle is a dual-camera UAV for simultaneous thermal and standard color imagery.

it can fly for up to 35 minutes and features an operating range of almost five miles.

It has two controllers, one for the pilot and one for the observer to control the cameras