BARRY COUNTY, MI — A couple missing since walking away from a friend’s house on Christmas Eve has been located and preliminary reports indicate they are uninjured, the Barry County Sheriff’s Office reports.

James and Dora Boulter went missing after they were seen around 10:30 p.m. Dec. 24 in Plainwell when they had left a friend’s home for their home in Barry County’s Orangeville Township.

Their family contacted sheriff’s deputies the next day when the couple did not return home. They were last seen driving a yellow Jeep Renegade with a Michigan license plate of 8MBJ29, police said previously.

James and Dora Boulter were located by a resident on Thursday, Dec. 26, afternoon in Oceana County. Preliminary reports indicate both are uninjured, police said.

Barry County Undersheriff Matt Houchlei said the couple got off the highway in an area they didn’t know and the driver kept driving.

A person walking in the neighborhood noticed James Boulter walking on the side of the road to get gas for the vehicle after it ran out of fuel, Houchlei said.

“It was a chance meeting,” he said, and it was lucky and fortunate they were found. The caller reported out of concern for the man, police said.