Missing 77-year-old from upstate New York dies after being found in Peoria County

A 77-year-old man from upstate New York who was reported missing died Tuesday afternoon in Peoria County after law enforcement received a tip about his whereabouts.

John F. Dubaic died shortly after 5 p.m. after search and rescue teams found him near the Spoon River off Cedar Bluff Road in north Peoria County near the Knox County line. According to Peoria County Sheriff Chris Watkins, Dubaic was found in the brush along the river, breathing but not alert.

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First responders had to bring him through rough terrain to conduct CPR, but despite the efforts of the Brimfield Fire Department and OSF Healthcare Lifeflight, Dubaic died.

Watkins said they received note of Dubaic's whereabouts at 1 p.m. Tuesday, when the Green Island Police Department in Albany County, New York, said a GPS in his RV had pinged a location in Peoria County.

New York police said Dubaic had not been seen by his family in 10 days, when he left in his RV and had not been heard from in eight days. Detectives from the sheriff's office used a drone to confirm the location, just south of Elmore near the Spoon River along the Peoria-Knox county line. A tree had also fallen on the RV, which told detectives the vehicle was there when strong storms moved through the area last week.

When authorities arrived on scene, they examined the RV but didn't find Dubaic. Search and rescue teams from five counties — Peoria, Knox, Tazewell, Mercer and McLean — along with emergency managers from Woodford County were dispatched to find him.

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Search and rescue, along with Knox County Sheriff's deputies, found Dubaic around 5 p.m. Watkins commented that the terrain made it one of the most difficult searches that his department has ever attempted.

An investigation is underway into the whereabouts of Dubaic's death, with the sheriff's office and the Peoria County Coroner's Office leading the way.

This article originally appeared on Journal Star: Missing 77-year-old from upstate New York dies after being found in Peoria County