UPDATE: Missing East Lansing woman has been found thanks to community effort

LANSING, Mich. (WILX) - Catherine Kania is one of more than a hundred volunteers who helped look for Shirley Baughan Tuesday. Catherine told News 10 she had a feeling Shirley was in this wooded area off Lake Lansing road, and decided to go look for her.

“I’ve worked here several years and I take walks in these woods,” Kania said. “When I heard that Shirley was missing I decided I was going to go out and look.”

Kania says there are pathways and tents that some homeless people have set up. She walked in about 50 feet and that’s where she saw Shirley laying down with a blanket.

“I asked her if her name was Shirley and she said, ‘No my name is Ann’ which is her middle name, and she had the clothes on that 911 was describing, so I knew it was Shirley,” Kania said. “I gave her some water. I had brought some water just in case and she just started talking to me.”

She says Shirley was a bit suspicious but friendly nonetheless. Kania recalled, “She said, ‘I’m taking a walk and I’m taking a rest’ and I said, ‘Well this is a good place to take a rest.’”

A story with a happy ending thanks to a woman who wants no credit for her good deed. “I’m just very glad that I could find her,” Kania said. “So many times bad things happen when elderly people go missing.”

Baughan’s family says they’re touched by how many people came out to help look for her.

Copyright 2021 WILX. All rights reserved.

Subscribe to our News 10 newsletter and receive the latest local news and weather straight to your email every morning.