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Family still holds out hope for missing man
Wednesday, January 14, 2009 11:04 AM PST
Family and friends of a man with Alzheimer’s disease who has been missing for a week still are hoping he is alive and someone will find him.
Stirling Morris and his white, gray and tan terrier mix, Bud, have been missing since the morning of Jan. 7.
 Stirling Morris, still missing
At least that is what his stepson, Donald Woodring, assumes.
“I have no idea. The police won’t tell me anything,” Woodring said Tuesday.
The family has not heard anything from Myrtle Point Police or the Coos County Sheriff’s Office in four days, he said.
Sheriff’s Sgt. Pat Downing said there are no new developments in the case and searchers have exhausted all leads in trying to find the 70-year-old.
Baker Adult Foster Care Facility owner Glen Baker called 911 that Wednesday at about 11 a.m., after Morris went missing while walking his dog. Employees searched the area unsuccessfully. The sheriff’s office organized a search the next day starting at 9 a.m. By Friday, there was no organized search, but a sheriff’s office spokesman said the department was following leads.
Two officers retraced the search area around the home again on Sunday and Monday and found nothing.
“We are 90 percent sure we’ve covered the logical areas he could have gone,” Downing said.
Woodring said there is evidence someone picked up his stepfather. Search dogs picked up Morris’ scent along the road, but it abruptly stopped, indicating he might have gotten into a vehicle.
Friends and family also have been checking places they think Morris might remember from his past. Though Morris suffers from Alzheimer’s, he is coherent at times, but would easily get lost.
Morris had a history of trying to wander away, but this incident departed from his normal pattern. Morris lived with Woodring for more than a year and would try to walk back to where he lived in a home off of Libby Road. He just followed the road. He never disappeared nor did he try to get a ride, Woodring said.
Baker said the morning his disappeared Morris went outside with Bud at the facility at 93831 Pleasant Valley Lane. Ten minutes later, he was nowhere to be found.
Morris had not wandered off before and seemed to be getting along with employees since moving there in November 2007. Baker said while Morris was upset about not living on his own anymore, he otherwise seemed content.
“He was unhappy not with the home, but with losing his independence,” Baker said.
Woodring said the dog, Bud, would stay close to Morris and is very protective. Morris is described as a 6-foot, 190-pound man with brown hair and blue eyes. He was last seen wearing dark blue jeans, brown shoes, a blue and gray striped shirt and plaid flannel jacket.
Woodring said he might have headed for The Mill-Casino Hotel in North Bend, the North Bend Senior Center, where he was a cook for years, or for Coos Bay, where he had a medical appointment the day before.
“If he had any recollection, he might try to go to any of those places,” he said.
People who think they might have seen Morris or anyone who might have offered him a ride is asked to call the Sheriff’s Office at 396-2106.
“If someone picked him up ... just call,” Woodring said. “Give us some kind of idea of where to start.” |
