How deputies and family found Gage County man trapped under branches

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) – On Sunday, Gage Couty Sheriff’s Deputies John Chavez and Spencer Behrens were assigned to a missing person case.

Virgil Janzen, 62, of Holmesville had been missing since Saturday, worrying loved ones.

Chavez said concerns grew when he was a no-show at work, which was very out of character for him.

“The guy is a farmer” he said. “The chores weren’t done. He actually did not show up for work that morning. Nobody had spoken to him earlier in the day earlier.”

Once deputies arrived in the area, they began to take down initial information.

During that time, Behrens made a call.

“I called our dispatch and asked them to ping the phone number,” he said. “So they did, and we knew that would take some time.”

As first responders waited for that ping, family members helped search for the man.

About 30 minutes later, results showed that the phone was in the area of 80th and B Line roads near Blue Springs.

The family, using their four-wheeler, found Janzen pinned underneath branches that he cleared almost 24 hours earlier.

“They were able to get to him first before we got there,” Chavez said. “And they had already kind of assessed him and got the tree off of him.”

The deputy said Janzen was cold and worn out from being in the same location for almost an entire day.

On Wednesday, he was in serious condition at Bryan Medical Center’s west campus in Lincoln.

Both deputies were thankful for the GPS and for the added help they received from local first responders and neighbors.

“We had the rescue squads that were there, a couple of local ones,” Behrens said. “StarCare came in and took him out. We just had a lot of help.”

Everyone is reminded to tell someone where you’re going and when you’ll be back if you are going somewhere alone.