Florida woman thought to be abducted safe in Southwest Georgia

ELLAVILLE — A 78-year-old Florida woman, who initially was thought to have been abducted, was found safe early Thursday near Americus, officials say.

According to the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, Susan Lockwood Boxx of Jacksonville, Fla., on Wednesday night had driven from her home in Jacksonville without telling anyone her plans. When it was discovered that someone had forced their way inside Boxx’s residence, her son began to worry and called police when he could not locate her.

“It started with a burglary alarm around 10:30 p.m.,” said Tom Hackney, director of investigations with the JSO, “and when her son couldn’t get her on the phone he called the police and drove to meet them at her house.”

Officials say Boxx’s TV and several other items, including her purse, were missing, but her cellphone and walking cane were still inside the house.

“Two plus two will quickly add to four that Mom’s been taken,” Hackney said. “It wasn’t necessarily an abduction, but we always work from worst to least in these type cases.”

Hackney said Boxx’s movements would have been easier to track had she taken her cellphone. Investigators had little to work with other than the financial transactions Boxx made on her credit card, and a lookout issued to Georgia and Florida law enforcement.

“At a point we were able to view a video surveillance from a store where she’d used the card,” Hackney said. “She seemed to be fine, but you can’t tell when a situation might be more sinister than it appears. Someone could have been waiting for her in the car.”

Officials say Boxx’s credit card activity was traced up I-95 through Savannah, into metro Atlanta then south on I-75. Around 5 a.m. on Thursday a Georgia State trooper found Boxx stopped on the roadside in Ellaville where she’d run out of gas. After determining that Boxx was unharmed, the trooper notified the Schley County Sheriff’s Office.

“She was very confused,” said Schley County Sheriff Shane Tondee, “and didn’t quite know who or where she was. She was hungry, though, so we took her for breakfast at the Ellaville Main Street Grill.”

Officials say Boxx was later transported to Phoebe Sumter Medical Center in Americus for observation and tests.

Tondee said he learned from Boxx’s son on Thursday that his mother had suffered a series of small strokes or neurological episodes in recent years.