Caddo County, Grady County law enforcement & pilots mobilize to find missing mother who recently underwent surgery for brain cancer
CHICKASHA, Okla. (KFOR) – A full-scale effort is underway in Grady and Caddo counties to find a missing mother who vanished days after having surgery for brain cancer. In the air and on the ground, dozens of people are searching for Dawn Sherrill, while he son Dylan leads the charge.
“My only focus is to find her. I don’t know what else to do,” said Dylan Sherrill. “I didn’t expect it to happen, I was just grasping at straws.”
Those straws led Dylan Sherrill to Chickasha Wings Pilot Brandon Albert. He’s one of three pilots that agreed to search for Dylan’s mother from the sky.
“A life is in the balance and if we can use aviation to help save that [life], when no other tool will work, that’s something we’d gladly do,” said Albert. “We’re going to be focusing on areas that are out of view from a public road.”
“We’re going to fly in a bunch of parallel tracks with a turn at the end of each one, covering the whole area she is suspected to be within,” said Albert.
The Chickasha Wings pilots will be taking to the skies this weekend, hoping to find the 55-year-old mother who was recently diagnosed with brain cancer and just had surgery. Doctors said her mental state is quickly deteriorating and causing frequent confusion.
“I’m just scared. I don’t know if she’s out there scared and alone and confused or what,” said Dylan.
“It really lends a whole new significance to the mission here with that hanging in the balance,” said the certified flight instructor.
Brandon and his team of pilots covered up to 900 square miles on Friday in Grady and Caddo counties. Unfortunately, no leads on Friday, but several close calls.
Dylan and the Caddo County Sheriff’s office said Dawn drove away from her Anadarko home on Wednesday night in a red 2007 Ford pickup truck with a black tailgate and large barbecue smoker in the bed.
Dylan reached out to sanitation workers, mail carriers, wind farmers and even military posts at Fort Sill to help.
“She has no phone, ID, wallet or money, that I know of. So, she hasn’t had anything to eat or drink since she disappeared, that I know of,” said Dylan. “I need tips. I need somewhere to look, a direction; right now, the area is too big.”
“If that was my mother in that situation, or a loved one of myself, it really lends a whole new significance to the mission here with that hanging in the balance,” said Albert.
Searches will continue through the weekend.
Another pilot from Cashion, Kenny Lockhart, told KFOR he’ll be joining in on the search, along with three to four powered parachute fliers to comb the area.