True NJ Cliffhanger: Dog Leads Bergen County Cops To Missing Senior Stuck On Ledge

FORT LEE, NJ — Phoenyx, the proud Maywood police dog, can add another save to her record.

Four months after the 3-year-old bloodhound found a missing boy in Upper Saddle River, she was able to use the scent from a woman's clothing to track her for 2.5 miles to a cliff in Fort Lee last week.

Maywood Police Sgt. Chris Nichols, who trains and works with the K-9, said the Fort Lee police reached out for help Thursday after a senior wandered away from her home.

"It was just a really complex search in the heart of Fort Lee," Nichols told Patch on Monday. "It was a our first hot day, so the dog's not used to that. We had to a take a few breaks, and then there was just a lot of skill because of the time frame. Honing in what's called a 'scent cone' takes work."

A "scent cone" is a plume of scent molecules that move downward.

Phoenyx is a specially trained "scent-discriminating bloodhound," the Maywood police noted in a social media post Friday.

The Hunt

The paw-patrolling pooch only had to sniff the senior's clothing in order to set to work.

Phoenyx tracked her for 90 minutes, leading police eastward, toward the river.

Nichols credited the Fort Lee police with not giving up, even when it was difficult to find a scent.

"They could have [assumed] she got on a bus, but they didn't quit," he said.

'Steep And Dangerous'

"The trail led officers to a steep and dangerous cliff area, where a cry for help was heard," the police noted in their post.

Nichols said they encountered a rocky area of town that had a ledge.

"If you walk off it, you're dropping onto Route 5," he said. "It was behind the bluffs."

Police found the stuck senior, who needed medical attention.

But she had no life-threatening injuries, Nichols said, and is recovering.

The sergeant said it was an exciting moment.

"Hundreds and hundreds of hours of training come into play," he said. "For it to come together made it worth it. A lot of police officers have never seen this happen before. There were a few new guys who hadn't seen a police dog work. They were floored."

Phoenix had a different reaction.

"She gets Spam every time she finds someone," he said. "For us it was really huge. For her it was like, 'Spam, please' ... She was nudging my pocket."

Past Saves

Nichols and Phoenyx were credited in November with using an article of clothing to find a missing boy in Saddle River as darkness fell. Missing Bergen County Child Found By Police Dog: PD

The boy had been gone for more than four hours.

Phoenyx is following in the paw-steps of her aunt, another longtime police dog named Remi, who located both missing people and criminals.

In 2020, Remi tracked a man for two miles who was charged with killing his roommate in Jersey City. Remi was honored for that work in 2022. READ MORE: Hero Dog Tracked NJ Student's Killer 2 Miles To Hudson County Motel

But a few months later, Remi died of pancreatic cancer. Later that year, Nichols had a new puppy to work with — Phoenyx.

The Maywood police wrote on Friday, "The Maywood Police Department commends our partners at the Fort Lee Police Department for their thorough investigation and unwavering commitment to bringing this incident to a positive resolution."