A Uniontown man who went missing on Wednesday was found dead Thursday morning.
Cpl. Michael Dugan, of the state police barracks at Uniontown, said Harold Milton Warman, 78, was discovered by a Fairchance volunteer firefighter about 75 yards from his house.
"He had walked off the side of the road," Dugan said, adding that Warman died of natural causes.
Warman, of 159 Frogtown Road, had been missing since about 10 a.m. Wednesday. That's when he was last seen by his niece, with whom he lived.
A neighbor reported seeing Warman walking north along Route 857, just before Olphant Road, about 15 to 30 minutes later.
State police said family and friends searched for the missing man in the area around his residence and in places he frequented when he collected aluminum cans.
The search also involved the Fairchance Volunteer Fire Department, Fairchance Firemen's Ambulance Service, the Fayette County Sheriff's Search and Rescue Team and state police. They combed the area around Frogtown Road, off Hopwood-Fairchance Road in Georges Township.
"We just did a grid search of the Burgess Field area," said Ray Eicher, Fairchance fire chief. "I believe we had 14 firemen involved; the sheriff's team had six to eight people. There were four ambulance crew members, and the state police must have had about six to eight cruisers."
Eicher said his crews initially were called into action Wednesday at about 10 p.m. but were called off before arriving at the scene.
The search reconvened yesterday at 8 a.m. Eicher said a firefighter found Warman about 2 1/2 hours later.
"They found him just by luck," Eicher said. "One of the firemen was on a quad and couldn't get through, so he went up around and happened upon him."
