April 15, 2026 - A missing Beauregard, Louisiana man was located in Center on April 15, 2026, following a search that began on the previous day.
Center Police Department officers located Dusty Whiddon, 36, on Old San Augustine Street in Center at around 9am Wednesday morning.
Whiddon’s vehicle was discovered abandoned on U.S. Highway 96 in Shelby County. Mike Hanson, Shelby County Chief Deputy, confirms Whiddon had parked in a rest area there on Monday, April 13. A neighbor to the location of the rest area had checked on Whiddon, since he had seen the vehicle sitting there, and Whiddon had accepted some water from him. Whiddon had reported to another neighbor to the location that he was out of gas at one point.
Chief Hanson said that a dispatcher, who lives in that direction, had noticed Whiddon parked in that area and encouraged a deputy to check on the man. Shelby County Sheriff's Deputy Thomas Jernigan made contact with Whiddon, everything seemed alright and Whiddon just had pulled off to park there. At the time of Deputy Jernigan's contact there was no identity return to indicate he was a missing person until later in the day. Deputy Jernigan returned to the location of the vehicle; however, Whiddon was no longer with the vehicle.
Businesses at the intersection of SL500 and U.S. 96 have security systems that captured Whiddon on foot during the day. Chief Hanson said that Jerrod Nutt with Despino's Tire Service was kind enough to review security footage at their location and the Shelby Emergency Department also had footage identifying Whiddon on the contractor side of Ace Hardware.
Due to the initial information received indicating Whiddon may have had intent to harm himself, DeSoto Parish Sheriff’s Department was then requested to provide a search and rescue helicopter to try and locate Whiddon.
The helicopter was seen at around 10pm April 14, as it circled over Center and appeared to fly in a grid pattern south of the city as they used their forward looking infrared.
According to Chief Hanson, Whiddon said that he had slept in a yard overnight before officers located him.
Whiddon has since been evaluated by the Burke Center and they determined he wasn't a danger to himself or others. Following his evaluation, he was free to go.
