Family appeals for help finding missing Penticton senior with dementia - Global News

A Penticton woman is pleading with the public to help look for her missing father.

“Check your cameras, check your sheds, just please keep eyes out everywhere,” said an emotional Carmen Gee.

The disappearance of 72-year-old Penticton resident Lawrence Jerry McAnulty, who goes by Jerry, is especially concerning as the senior has dementia.

“With him having dementia, so many possibilities are running through my mind and everyone else’s,” Gee said.

Gee, along with other family members, are now scouring Penticton’s downtown area, which McAnulty was known to frequent on foot.

They are putting up posters, talking to operators of businesses McAnulty frequently visited and asking people if they have seen the missing man.

Police say McAnulty was seen the morning of Oct. 23 on security video in the lobby of his apartment building, just a few blocks from downtown.

Gee says she got a text from her dad the next day but nothing since.

“I had gone a little bit of time without contacting, which was not abnormal,” she said. “We would always check in here and there.”

However, after a wellness check at his apartment earlier this week showed no sign of him, McAnulty was reported missing.

Searches for seniors with dementia are not that uncommon.

Officials with Central Okanagan Search and Rescue (COSAR) say they get called out 10 to 15 times a year and in some cases, people have been found a long distance away.

“We had one subject leave Cottonwoods and was found in McKinley Landing, almost 18 kilometres away, ” said Ed Henczel, COSAR’s search manager.  “They are just like toddlers when they want to get going; they can go pretty fast.”

Gee is appealing to people on the outskirts of the city to also keep their eyes and ears open.

She says she’s not ruling out her dad potentially heading north to Oyama in Lake Country or Vernon, where he has deep roots.

Henczel says regular check-ins and tracking devices are important, especially at this time of year when the weather turns cold.

“If you could, you know, put on an AirTag on a piece of clothing or something or buy grandpa an iPhone that you can track,” Henczel said.

In McNulty’s case, numerous requests to ping his cell phone’s location have been unsuccessful.

Penticton RCMP say McNaulty has white hair and beard.

His family says he may be wearing a blue toque.

RCMP are urging anyone who may know of his whereabouts to contact them.

Gee says any sightings or information can also be directly sent to her at 250-551-7551.