Chilton County Sheriff Kevin Davis said a lack of communication led to a search for his wife, Sweet, who is safe and unharmed.

A search for Sweet Davis was conducted after her whereabouts became unknown following Tuesday’s General Election, which saw Kevin Davis elected to a second term.

The couple was awaiting and then celebrating election results at Kevin Davis’ office at the Chilton County Courthouse, but Sweet Davis, who was suffering from an illness, told her husband she needed to leave and waited on him outside the office, Kevin Davis said.

The sheriff exited the courthouse to take his wife home but couldn’t find her, not knowing she had walked to a friend’s home nearby and fallen asleep.

An overnight search was conducted by sheriff’s deputies, and assistance from State Trooper Aviation was requested and received, in the form of a rescue helicopter out of a hangar in Montgomery.

“My fear was…that she got out there walking around the courthouse and had collapsed and was in need of help,” he said Thursday. “I went out to find my wife and didn’t know where she was. I’m thinking all the worst things in the world could’ve happened.

“A lack of communication was the biggest thing.”

Sweet Davis was taken to Brookwood Medical Center on Wednesday for issues related to her illness.

Kevin Davis said the response was typical of other searches for missing people during his time in office.

“If anybody had been missing, the reaction would have been the same; it wasn’t anything special because it was my wife,” he said. “A lot of people think you’ve got to wait 24 hours, and that’s a bad misconception. When someone is missing, we want to start hunting them right then.

“If someone is missing, why do we want to give them a 24-hour head start? I wouldn’t take that chance with anybody.”