A Hardin County man used his cellular phone to report he was lost on Nolin Lake Saturday, March 1 and later that same phone was used to prove the whole search and rescue request may just have been a hoax.

Around 12:30 a.m. Sunday morning, Grayson County Emergency Management Director Randell Smith received a call from the Warren County 911 alerting him they had received a report of a man lost on Nolin Lake.

Jamie Bransford, of Elizabethtown had called 911 on Saturday night, reaching the Warren County dispatcher, and reported waking up somewhere on Nolin Lake.

Bransford said he was unaware of his location and unsure how he arrived at the location. He reported he was wearing a black hoodie sweat shirt and was not wearing shoes.

The Warren County 911 office kept the caller on his cell phone trying to find his location.

They tracked the signals from the cell phone by the various repeaters in the area and determined he was probable somewhere in the Anneta area on Dickey Mills Road.

The 911 officials continued to use the phone to try to locate Bransford until his cell phone battery died in the early morning hours.

Smith said over 200 individuals searched the Anneta area for Bransford until around 4:30 a.m. when the search was suspended until daylight.

There were rescue squads from three counties searching the streets looking for Bransford when the search was suspended.

Emergency Management Officials decided to resume the search by water at 6 a.m. and boats from the Edmonson County Rescue Squad as well as Wax Fire Department and Hart County Rescue were lined up and ready to hit the water to search the shores of Nolin Lake for Bransford.

“The area Emergency Director, Gene Logue, located Bransford's father in the Sonora area,” reported Smith. "We called him and asked him if he had any idea where his son was. All he knew was his son had gone fishing with a friend or a cousin but was not sure where.”

Bransford's father had reported his son drove a 1991 metallic blue Chevy S10 truck that has a University of Louisville license plate.

The father agreed to meet emergency officials at 6 a.m. at the Taco Bell on Hwy 259 in Leitchfield.

“While we were waiting for the father to show up, Gary Fancher, Emergency Management Director for Area Four pulled up and told us he had just spoken to Jamie Bransford on the same cell phone that had died earlier in the morning,” said Smith. “He said that Bransford said he was fine and on his way home.

“He had said he must have been sleep walking and that must have been how he got lost on the lake,” added Smith. “The search was then called off.

“There were over 200 people out looking for this guy all night. Edmonson County wrecked a vehicle. I am not sure this guy was ever really lost,” said Smith. “The Emergency Management Director in Edmonson County has contacted the county attorney there to see if any charges can be filed on this guy for falsifying a report. “

Reporter

tdunn@gcnewsgazette.com