Related video: Polk County Hurricane Milton Friday evening update
LAKELAND, Fla. (WFLA) — A Lakeland man with late-stage Alzheimer’s disease was found dead in flood waters Friday morning.
Authorities believe he wandered away from the van he and his wife were staying in outside his flooded home.
The body of Marco Grillo, 83, was discovered by deputies from the Polk County Sheriff’s Office after he went missing Thursday night, according to a news release. Grillo, who had Alzheimer’s, a heart condition, and poor circulation, had been staying in a van with his wife, Suzanne, near their Alderman Road neighborhood.
Their home had been flooded by the heavy rains from the storm.
According to the sheriff’s office, Grillo’s body was spotted by the PCSO Air Unit around 7:30 a.m., floating beneath the surface of floodwaters behind the couple’s home.
“Despite Mr. Grillo being found in his backyard, the area was so flooded that our Aviation Unit had to direct deputies on an airboat to him,” Sheriff Grady Judd said. “Our prayers are with his family.”