82-Year-Old Florida Woman Who Wandered Away From Home Found Dead On High School Campus

An elderly woman, who was reported missing by her family Sunday, was found dead hours later on a Florida high school campus.

The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office and members of the Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department undertook an hours-long search before she was found on the Mandarin High School property in Jacksonville on Christmas Day.

Paula Gerding, 82, who was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease and also suffered from other medical issues, lived out of town and was visiting family when she went missing, according to First Coast News.

The woman was last seen walking on Mountain Wood Lane, wearing matching blue and purple pajamas at around 1:30 a.m. Sunday. She was also reportedly not wearing any shoes or a coat at the time.

The woman reportedly wandered away from the family's house by herself, Assistant Chief J.D. Stronko said.

Her family reported her missing at around 2 a.m., prompting an intensive search that had 40 police officers from the sheriff's office and 50 Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department personnel involved.

The search also included drones, bike patrol officers, bloodhounds, police K-9s and the Sheriff's Office air unit, Stronko added.

Residents living in and around Mountain Wood Lane and Greenland Road were also asked to sieve through footage from their home security cameras to catch any signs of Gerding walking in the area.

"Along with the temperatures that occurred in the overnight hours, obviously this was a cause for great concern to our officers," Stronko was quoted saying.

The search for the missing woman came to an end at around 11:40 a.m. when Gerding was found dead at the school's campus, which was about a half-mile away from her relative's house, News4JAX reported.

"We are now working with school board police to review video as part of an ongoing death investigation into Mrs. Gerding's death," Stronko said.

"Obviously, this was an all-hands-on-deck effort you know when you have a fragile citizen like that or a fragile person in your community of any type, these officers are doing to come out no matter what the temperature is, no matter what the conditions are, holiday or not and do their best to find them and return them safe to their family members if they can," Stronko said, as quoted by jacksonville.com.

"It's a sad day for everybody involved ... Obviously, every day but especially on Christmas, we'd hope for a better outcome," he added.

Due to her mental health issues, it was unclear whether Gerding consciously entered the school to escape the cold.

The authorities will retrieve security footage from the school as part of the investigation into her death.