{"id":43,"date":"2026-09-29T13:29:50","date_gmt":"2026-09-29T17:29:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/radio.wvrcdev.com\/wchsnetwork\/missing-autistic-man-found-alive-in-boone-county\/"},"modified":"2026-09-29T15:15:57","modified_gmt":"2026-09-29T19:15:57","slug":"missing-autistic-man-found-alive-in-boone-county","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radio.wvrcdev.com\/wchsnetwork\/missing-autistic-man-found-alive-in-boone-county\/","title":{"rendered":"Missing autistic man found alive in Boone County"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>DANVILLE, W.Va.<\/strong> \u2014 \u201cWhat a great day. What an absolutely what a great day,\u201d said Boone County Sheriff Chad Barker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/wchsnetwork.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_7501-206x300.jpeg\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Alexander Shear<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Barker confirmed the man who has been the subject of a weeklong search in Boone County has been found. Alex Shear, 24, was cold and hungry, but otherwise okay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThey\u2019re getting him warmed up, getting some food and fluids in him with IV. We\u2019ve talked to him a little bit and he just said he was out in the woods by himself,\u201d Barker explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Shear is autistic, so when he wandered away from his home last Tuesday, the search to find him was intensified immediately. Volunteers turned out from all over West Virginia as well as some neighboring states to help scour the rugged countryside around his hometown of Danville to look for him. Through the weekend the search intensified with both tracking dogs and cadaver dogs, drones, helicopters, and foot searches. There was no sign of him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Despite the lack of any positive sightings, Barker and his deputies remained hopeful on Monday, but admitted it was a struggle not to start letting doubt creep in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The county 911 center got a call from a passer by on Price\u2019s Branch around 7:30 a.m. Tuesday. The passerby noted a man who had walked out of the woods and on the road, naked, and was walking along the road.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe lady that stopped we\u2019re very grateful that she stopped and called. I\u2019d say under normal circumstances she probably wouldn\u2019t have stopped for that, but she was aware of the missing person and thought that\u2019s probably who it was,\u201d Barker explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It\u2019s unclear why Shear was without clothes, or even where they were. Barker said because of his autism it\u2019s difficult to communicate with him to answer the questions they have. But Barker felt confident Shear was telling the truth and was simply lost in the woods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt is very difficult, but he is coherent and talking. Some things he doesn\u2019t understand, and it\u2019s hard for him to communicate certain things, but he\u2019s been a trooper so far,\u201d Barker added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Barker said he and his department along with Shear\u2019s family were deeply grateful for the outpouring of support and volunteers from the public and from other law enforcement agencies who sent resources to help with the week-long search.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>DANVILLE, W.Va. \u2014 \u201cWhat a great day. What an absolutely what a great day,\u201d said Boone County Sheriff Chad Barker. Barker confirmed the man who has been the subject of a weeklong search in Boone County has been found. Alex Shear, 24, was cold and\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":44,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radio.wvrcdev.com\/wchsnetwork\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radio.wvrcdev.com\/wchsnetwork\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radio.wvrcdev.com\/wchsnetwork\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radio.wvrcdev.com\/wchsnetwork\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/radio.wvrcdev.com\/wchsnetwork\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":81,"href":"https:\/\/radio.wvrcdev.com\/wchsnetwork\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43\/revisions\/81"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radio.wvrcdev.com\/wchsnetwork\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radio.wvrcdev.com\/wchsnetwork\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radio.wvrcdev.com\/wchsnetwork\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radio.wvrcdev.com\/wchsnetwork\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}