Missing St. Charles woman found

A missing 80-year-old woman suffering from the early onset of Alzheimer's disease was found unharmed in downtown St. Charles Tuesday morning.

Dolores Bucko wandered away from the Brighton Garden Assisted Living Facility in St. Charles at about 4 p.m. Monday.

Staff at the facility contacted police, touching off a missing person search that involved St. Charles residents in the area, the St. Charles Fire Department, Kane County Emergency Management and other first responders.

The search lasted more than 15 hours and concluded when at St. Charles police officer discovered Bucko about two miles away from the retirement home. She had wandered all the way across the Fox River and was found in the area of Third and West Main streets.

Despite temperatures that dipped into the high 40s Monday night, Police Department Spokesman Paul McCurtain said Bucko was warm, uninjured and apparently in fairly good physical shape to have gotten as far as she did.

The police returned Bucko to Brighton Gardens without incident.