By LESLIE BROWN
A daylong search for an 84-year-old man with Alzheimer's disease who walked out of his home late Wednesday afternoon clad only in pajamas and sneakers was called off Thursday evening as darkness fell.
Authorities report they've found no sign of the man. Search and rescue teams likely won't resume their effort on Friday, according to Assistant Fire Chief George Brown, "because they've covered every part of the area" where he disappeared.
"They don't know where else they could possibly go look," Brown said.
Jack Randles, who lives with his son Jory Randles, disappeared from his home near Portage late Wednesday afternoon or evening.
Initially, authorities reported that Jack Randles was seen around 4:30 p.m. walking past Engels Repair & Towing and that a mechanic at the shop called Jory, leaving him a message that the son didn't get until Thursday morning. But Brown said those circumstances around his disappearance where misstated.
It turns out, Brown said, that Jory got the call from Engels and, with the mechanic's help, found his father walking along Tramp Harbor and brought him home. Jack apparently left again later Wednesday evening, unbeknownst to Jory, who discovered him missing in the morning. Authorities have one eyewitness report from 9:30 p.m. Wednesday that he was walking south on Dockton Road clad in red pajamas.
Thursday's search for the elderly man was extensive, according to authorities. The first search and rescue teams showed up on the Island at 9:30 a.m. By mid-day, about 20 emergency responders, four off-road vehicles and five search dog teams were combing the area near his home and beyond.
A helicopter equipped with heat-seeking cameras that can detect body temperatures was also part of the search. Members of Vashon's Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) also joined the effort, Brown said.
Dep. Troy Chaffee with King County Search and Rescue said that crews expanded their search area south after thoroughly combing the neighborhoods north of Randles' home, a direction he often heads when he walks with his son.
Searchers found no sign of Randles, but one search dog picked up on the elderly man's scent Thursday afternoon and followed it east on Maury. Chaffee said there is no way to know how long ago Randles may have walked there.
"It's definitely his scent. What we don't know is how fresh it is," Chaffee said Thursday afternoon.
Brown said searchers fear the man could have fallen and died overnight. But it's also possible he's holed up somewhere or even that he somehow got onto a ferry and "is sitting somewhere on the mainland."
"We hope it's not the worst. We're holding out hope," Brown said.
His son, reached Thursday morning, said he's feeling frantic about his father's status. His father has wandered off before, he said, but never overnight.
"I'm pretty freaked out," Jory said.
Jack Randles was just found--injured but alive in a beach home on Luana Beach. See Vashon Beachcomber as details are released.
Posted by: Anne Woodward | January 28, 2012 at 04:34 PM