A high-tech photography expert was in Brookhaven Thursday toassist in the search for missing woman Virginia Ratliff.

Gary Soucy, of Brewer, Maine, was one of several searchers whotook part in a second helicopter search for Ratliff Thursday,flying over areas she could potentially have traveled when she wentmissing exactly a month before.

Soucy said the digital imaging technology searchers usedyesterday has never failed to find a missing person if that personis actually lost within the search area.

“In all the cases I’ve been involved in, we’ve found every oneof them,” he said.

The results of the digital mapping process could be available inabout a week, he said.

Soucy was brought in after Brookhaven Assistant Police ChiefNolan Jones spoke with former congressman Mike Parker, who put himin touch with Mike Sheppard at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base inDayton, Ohio. Sheppard offered his assistance with a plane used forair searches. When the plane began malfunctioning on the way toMississippi, Sheppard called it back, but a local helicopter wasenlisted.

The process, as Soucy explained it to searchers from HomelandSecurity, the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation, the Division ofPublic Safety and the Brookhaven Police Department, involves takinghigh-resolution pictures of the ground from inside an aircraft.

Each picture covers between 500 and 1,000 feet of ground area.The pictures are taken from different angles as the aircraft fliesover the search area.

Once the photos are processed, each one of the possiblythousands of photos is reviewed by technicians trained in photoanalysis.

“Certain colors are pulled out, hoping the other colors will popand show us what we call ‘points of interest,'” Soucy said.

After a point of interest – something that looks unusual or outof place for the terrain – is located, the digital image issuperimposed over a map so searchers can locate the closest roadaccess. Ground crews are then sent to that area to identify thepoint of interest.

Soucy said it’s almost always surprising to hear where themissing people are found.

“Even I’m sometimes like, ‘You found them … there?'”he said. “A lot of the time I don’t know how we’re going to findthem in the kind of terrain we search, but if they are within oursearch area, we will find them.”

Soucy said he himself is only the photographer, and that hisimages are sent back to Verisar, a company out of Dayton, Ohio,that specializes in image analysis.

“It’s a real team effort,” he said.

Homeland Security Deputy Director Byron Thompson said Thursday’ssearch would key on areas not only that Ratliff was known to travelrecently, but also in years long past. He said that seniors willsometimes revert and try to visit places they were familiar with inearlier stages of their lives.

Family members said Ratliff, 83, had not driven a car in sixyears, and that her husband, Charles “Ploochie” Ratliff, hadrecently found the billfold he thought she might have taken withher.

“So I’m not sure she ever left Brookhaven,” said hersister-in-law Agnes Ratliff. “Never could I even drive in all thattraffic (in Jackson), so I’m certain she couldn’t have traveled allthat distance. If she left Brookhaven, it’s because someone carriedher away.”

One theory is that Ratliff went missing while on her way to senther husband, who was in the hospital in Jackson at the time of herdisappearance. Authorities have said they do not suspect and therehas been nothing to indicate foul play in the disappearance.

Thompson said one thing complicating the case is that Ratliffapparently left in her vehicle.

“When you drive off, it makes it a lot harder to find you thanif you leave on foot,” he said. “People on foot are much morepredictable, and we can do canine searches. But in a vehicle, youdon’t leave a trail. Plus, you can travel a greater distance in ashorter time.”

Soucy said the large amount of area covered in the search couldslow down the digital mapping process a little, as usually a searcharea is only a few square miles. The search for Ratliff couldpotentially cover hundreds of miles.

“This process is not a guarantee, but it greatly improves yourchances of finding someone,” he said.

Jones said Thursday’s search actually found an abandoned whiteMercury fitting the description of Ratliff’s car in Hazlehurst.While the car had no tag, when the vehicle identification numberwas checked, it turned out to be a different car.

“We really appreciate these guys and all their help,” Jonessaid.

Jones said if this search turns up nothing, another one could beconducted once Sheppard’s airplane is back up and working.