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Missing man with Alzheimers
By Walt Walker
During an RMRU
Board of Directors meeting held at my residence,
we received a call from the Elsinore station of
the Riverside County Sheriff's Department that a
69 year old man with Alzheimers disease,
was missing from the Thousand Trails Campground.
We activated the RMRU paging system and backed
that up with telephone calls to the RMRU members.
When we arrived at the campground
the ranger informed us of the details concerning
the missing man and what had been done to try and
locate him. Staff from the campground, local
people, and guests at the campground had searched
all the surrounding area. The area was about
equally divided between rural, urban, and rolling
hills covered with brush. The highway was also a
factor to consider. On missions with
circumstances like these, it is always hard to
try and figure out where to start searching. With
all the prior searching there was not going to be
a solo set of footprints close in.
RMRU members
were assigned in groups of two, to search local
hazard areas, a dirt road leading into the
mountains, areas around the lake and a canyon
that contained a small waterfall. All this did
not produce any positive results. Shortly after
8:00 a.m. we were informed by the ranger that an
employee of the campground was sure she had seen
the missing man as she was leaving the campground
the evening before. She had seen him near the
entrance road and the highway. We requested the
sheriff to contact the Marine Base at El Toro and
ask for a helicopter.
A search team
was sent out to the highway and they radioed back
that they had a solo set of tracks along the edge
of the roadway. They were instructed to continue
searching along the road. A Marine twin turbined
Huey search and rescue helicopter arrived and we
told the crew the details and where we wanted
them to search. While the helicopter flew search,
RMRU grabbed a bite to eat and discussed what to
do next. The sheriff's department had put out a
missing persons report on the state computer. We
had just finished eating when we were informed
that the missing man had been located by the San
Diego Police department and that he was O.K.
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