HURLEY — Joe Ladnier went missing on Dec. 24, 2023. His wife said local authorities searched for four days before calling off the effort.
“I thought that that was going to be the end of it — that there was no hope, that we were just going to have to continue to hunt,” Lori Ladnier said. “Fortunately, we were contacted by Bruce, and he came out and brought his dog, Mac.”
Bruce Leech, co-founder of Jackson County K-9, started searching at sunrise the next morning. Using the scent from Joe’s belongings, Mac led him to Joe’s remains within 45 minutes.
“(The) very first person I called was Lori, just to let her know, ‘Hey, we’ve got him. He’s good. He’s at peace,’ because he had a very peaceful presence to himself,” Leech said.
The Ladnier search was one of more than 120 Jackson County K-9 has carried out since 2013.
Filling a need in emergency response
Leech and his wife, Beth Remick, launched the Hurley-based nonprofit to provide a resource emergency responders often lack: dogs trained to find human remains.
“We get called out throughout the state or neighboring states, because there’s such a shortage of cadaver dogs,” said Remick, who is also a part-time deputy with the George County Sheriff’s office. “Sheriff’s departments, the state agencies — they spend their money on the apprehension, the narcotics, the explosives dogs. Cadaver dogs are needed for cold cases and closure, especially after disasters.”
The team has 14 members — a mix of retired law enforcement, civilians and veterans. Among them are James Glaskox, who teaches land navigation, situational awareness and map reading — skills that keep the team oriented and certified for search work — and Dawn Courtney, a retired security worker who now answers calls she said families never stop making.
“If something comes up and say, ‘Oh, I received a tip on this two-year-old case where there was never closure brought,’ they can call Jackson County K-9, and … we’re willing to go,” Courtney said. “That means a lot to the families, because they never give up. It could be 10 years, and some families never give up looking for the answers.”
The team works alongside 18 dogs of many breeds and sizes trained to find living people or human remains by following commands and detecting faint scents in a multitude of dangerous environments on land and in the water.
This year alone, Jackson County K-9 deployed 13 times, including to Kerrville, Texas in July following a major flood. Remick said their dogs narrowed the search — one that already spanned dozens of miles.
“Staying focused — that’s the hard part. Texas was so dangerous. Physically, you’ve got huge piles of debris, just like Katrina,” Remick said. “I think a lot of people here in Mississippi understand … everything’s scared, everything’s angry, nothing’s solid. These rubble piles would fall. There were constantly people getting hurt, but you’re trying to get in to bring everybody back.”
Part of a larger volunteer network
Jackson County K-9 often works with national groups, including the United Cajun Navy — a disaster response nonprofit made up of hundreds of volunteer groups.
“We know that government response is not always going to be quick,” said Brian Trascher, the organization’s vice president. “It’s not always going to be sufficient, but we have the skills and the resources to get in and respond quickly.”
He said groups like Jackson County K-9 are invaluable when local law enforcement agencies are stretched thin and time is of the essence.
“We really are force multipliers because of our partnerships, like with Jackson County K-9,” he said. “We’re helping these families of these victims gain closure, but we’re also helping the local community that may not have the resources that we have to go out and perform these kinds of functions.”
That’s closure that Ladnier said she could not have gone without.
“I will be forever grateful to them that we didn’t have to go on continuing to wonder what was going on,” Ladnier said. “Having that closure, it gives me some peace of mind, knowing where he is, and that I don’t have to wonder if he’s wandering the streets, if he’s alone.”
