GREENVILLE – It ended well, and with a few tears.

The search is over for an Ahoskie woman who left her group home Saturday night.

Ahoskie Police Chief Troy Fitzhugh said that 42-year-old Melissa Dawn Bass was reported missing around midnight Saturday. She was found at 12 noon on Monday in Greenville.

“It was good to hear her voice on the phone; so much to the point where I became a bit emotional,” Fitzhugh said on Monday afternoon after speaking with the woman. “Anytime we have a missing person, things can that way.”

The Ahoskie Police Chief said the circumstances surrounding this particular case became more concerning due to the fact that Bass suffers from dementia or some other cognitive impairment.

“Through our investigation, we were able to quickly have her name, clothing description, and a photo entered into the Silver Alert system less than six hours after she was reported missing,” Fitzhugh noted.

By 5:30 a.m. Sunday, the N.C. Center for Missing Persons had issued a Silver Alert for Bass. That alert was sent throughout the state.

“We were able to ascertain that she was somewhere in Greenville,” Fitzhugh said. “From that point forward we worked very closely with the Greenville Police Department to locate her. The Greenville Police were great to work with; they had the same goal that we did and that was to locate Ms. Bass and bring her home safe and sound and that’s exactly what happened.”

Fitzhugh said the investigation now shifts to how Bass wound up in Greenville.

“We’re looking in to that now,” he said.