John Knox headed south Thursday afternoon in the family Pontiac Aztek, aiming for Interstate 75.
It was the beginning of a 516-mile drive to Chattanooga.
He hopes the journey ends with finding the body of 85-year-old Gladis Russell and bringing her home to rest.
“I couldn’t sleep well thinking about it. I woke up this morning and said, ‘Let’s go to Tennessee,'” Knox said. “My wife thought I was joking.”
The couple live a few miles outside Bellefontaine, Ohio, where Russell and her husband, Richard, lived.