The Hancock county sheriff’s office said today that they received a report of the missing couple at about 10:30 PM. Family and neighbors were also contacted and all proceeded to help search for James and Lilah Hobbs.
Deputies located their abandoned pickup truck, partially in a ditch on Grant Avenue north of 320th Street near Woden. It was submerged in snow. No one was in the vehicle. They appeared to have walked about a mile north, in the direction of their rural Hancock county home.
Lilah’s body was later found on the shoulder of 330th Street; she was deceased. Rescue crews from the Woden and Crystal Lake fire departments used thermal imaging to find her husband, James, who was in a field about 150 yards off the roadway. It appeared he was headed to a rural farm residence.
James Hobbs was taken Hancock Memorial Hospital in Britt and later transferred to Mercy Medical Center at Mason City. He’s listed in critical condition.
