Missing Venice woman spotted in North Port

Good Samaritan tried to help, chief praises her efforts

* An 84-year-old woman, appearing disoriented, walked into an after-school program at Glenallen Elementary School. Betsy Galterio, who runs the Century 21 after-school program, found Ella Ruth Kilbourne wandering around. When Galterio, who tried to help Kilbourne, suggested calling the police, the woman became agitated and left. Galterio called the North Port Police Department, who looked but could not find the woman. She was later found 20 hours later safe in Nokomis.

NORTH PORT -- A woman who wandered into an after-school program at Glenallen Elementary School wound up missing for more than 20 hours.

Ella Ruth Kilbourne, 84, of Nokomis, wandered into Betsy Galterio's Century 21 program, confused and disoriented.

"I took her into my office to try to help her," said Galterio, who is also a health aide at Glenallen. She said Kilbourne did not know where she lived or her phone number.

Galterio said she called North Port Police on its non-emergency line as the woman was leaving. She said she gave the dispatcher the woman's name, her license plate number, and direction of travel. She was not sure what state the plate was from. She also gave the police her cell phone number.

However, Galterio said when she saw the same woman on TV, she could not believe it.

"I felt guilty, thinking that I should have done more," Galterio said.

"(Galterio) did everything right," said North Port Police Chief Terry Lewis. "She got involved. She was concerned. She tried to help her. And she called the police."

However, Galterio said she felt otherwise.

"Obviously I didn't do everything right," she said. "The woman was missing for 20 hours."

Galterio called Lewis, as she was concerned that maybe the police did not make it to the area in time.

She said she gave police her name, license plate, type of car she was driving, and the direction she took off in.

Lewis said he looked into the situation, and said that not only did police follow all their protocols, he said Galterio did all she could.

"She helped an obviously confused woman," Lewis said.

Lewis investigated Galterio's concerns.

Lewis called Venice Police Department Lt. Ronny Solenas, who filled in some of the missing pieces.

Lewis said VPD received a call from Kilbourne's husband at 5:36 p.m. on Tuesday. At 5:58 p.m., Galterio called NPPD.

Lewis said North Port units started to search for the woman, however, could not locate her.

At 6:24 p.m., VPD issued a "be on the lookout" for Kilbourne. An alert North Port dispatcher recognized that the woman VPD was looking for was the same woman they were looking for, and alerted them.

However, the woman was never found.

Lewis said NPPD tried to find a driver's license in Kilbourne's name, and had problems running the plate, not knowing what state issued it.

Kilbourne was found 20 hours later in a turn lane in Nokomis. Her car had run out of gas. Lewis said Sarasota County Sheriff deputy Chris McConnell found Kilbourne.

"I'm confident we did everything we could to find her," Lewis said.

Lewis also praised Galterio for getting involved.

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