Family Of Missing OKC Man, Found Safe, Talks To News 9

A 74-year-old missing for more than a day was found alive Sunday by volunteer searchers in the area.

Police said the man was lucky to be alive after spending the night cold and wet along a North Canadian River bed.

Lacy Penin, 74, apparently wrecked his SUV near the Wilshire Blvd. and Douglas Blvd. According to police, he became confused and ended up lost in the woods not far from where he wrecked his Tahoe. Officers located the wrecked SUV but found nobody inside.

"The officers found the Tahoe when they called me, but they didn't let me know that they had found the Tahoe because there was nobody so they didn't want to alarm us," explained Penin's younger sister Figgie Mitchell.

Penin's sister said the family had been looking for him for more than a day after a neighbor noticed him acting odd early Saturday morning.

"Friday, going into two o'clock that morning he was outside in the backyard talking about my brother in New York was here riding a white horse so the neighbor knew then he was confused."

2/3/2013 Related Story: Missing OKC Man Found Safe Near North Canadian River 

Penin told his neighbor Saturday morning that he was going to pay his cell phone bill but never returned. Mitchell said if it were not for the volunteer searchers Sunday, there would be no way of telling how long Penin would have been stranded out in the cold.

"The guy that owns this property found out what was going on and they went out and started looking because the choppers couldn't see him," she said. "The girl that was on the horse, heard him yelling and that's how they found him."

Police say he's lucky they spotted him and pulled him out to safety when they did.

"A lot of times in situations like this, it may be a longer time period before they are found and usually when the time is longer, the chances of survival are less," explained Eddie Southard with the Oklahoma City Police Department.

Figgie Mitchell told News 9 on Sunday night that her brother was still being treated at Midwest City Regional Hospital. He was still confused about what happened. She added that doctors were running a series of tests on Penin to find out what caused him to become confused. Penin will turn 75 this week.