Newton man goes missing, found in Wisconsin

An 82-year-old Newton man who was reported missing Wednesday morning was found later at a gas station along Interstate Highway 94 between Madison and Milwaukee, Wis., unharmed.

The Newton Police Department issued a missing person report for Junior Fowble through the Iowa Missing Person Information Clearinghouse website maintained by the Department of Public Safety after he failed to arrive at a Skiffs Medical Center, where his wife had been transported by ambulance. According to the Newton Police Department the wife’s condition at press time was not serious.

Fowble has dementia and was without his medication when he began following the ambulance in a red 2003 Chevy S10 pickup.

Media reports out of Wisconsin indicated Fowble had been spotted in the Janesville and Madison areas earlier in the day. Television station WMTV reported he was spotted in Madison at 8:11 a.m. Wednesday after he had run out of gas.

The Janesville Gazette also reported he was seen at a Janesville convenience store, approximately 40 miles south of Madison. The newspaper reported Fowble was captured on surveillance camera pulling into the gas station parking lot and stopping near the fuel pumps for a few moments before walking into the store and leaving a few minutes later.

At approximately 7:15 p.m. Wednesday, the missing person alert was canceled when Fowble was found at another gas station in Johnson Creek, a town approximately 35 miles east of Madison along Interstate 94. At press time, his family in Newton were making arrangements to bring him back here.

Lt. Bill Henninger of the Newton Police Department made this official statement:

“We’re just glad that he was found,” Henninger said. “With it being so cold up there, like it is here and the situation with running out of gas and being somewhere he is unfamiliar with we are glad that this had a good ending for him and his family.”

Staff writer Ty Rushing may be contacted at (641) 792-3121, ext. 426, or at trushing@newtondailynews.com.