When this 81-year-old woman with dementia went missing last weekend, police crews were struggling to find her through the difficult terrain.

Luckily, the force had begun using an aerial drone for reconnaissance only six weeks earlier.

25 minutes after being deployed, the robot spotted a splash of purple amidst the brown and green colors of a nearby cornfield a few hundred yards from her home.

Officers from the Randolph County Sheriff's Office in North Carolina then located where the woman had settled and managed to reunite her with her worried husband.

She emerged unharmed from the mishap.

"The family expressed their gratitude for the quick response," Sheriff Robert Graves posted on the office's Facebook page. "I am very proud of all of our team."

(WATCH the video below)

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