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Requesting prayers please - update 4 in the OP


Loowit
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My 90 year old grandfather is missing.  He was last seen Thursday morning by neighbors leaving in his car.  His car was found and listed as abandoned on a forest service road a few hours away near Windy Ridge (Mt. St. Helens).  It was damaged, but I am not sure the details/extent. My aunt was called about the car yesterday because she is also on the title.  Search and rescue were called in late yesterday afternoon to start a search and family and friends have joined them.  They called off the search late last night due to darkness, but are resuming this morning.

 

We are not sure why he would have driven out there, it is not a normal thing for him.  He does have mild dementia but is still living on his own.  They searched his home and didn't find any signs of foul play.  If he is out in that area it has been two nights now and I am really worried.  He is in great shape for his age, but he is quite elderly.

 

Any prayers would be appreciated.

 

**(Non) update**  -- They searched all day yesterday and there was no sign of him.  They searched a 10 mile radius.  They will be out again today, but the guess is that if they don't find anything today they will call off search and rescue.  At this point chances of finding him safe and alive is not good.  Even so, we are continuing to pray for a good outcome.  I am also praying that we can find out either way to bring some closure for our family.

 

Thank you everyone for your thoughts and prayers.  It is very appreciated.

 

** Update 2**  SAR stopped searching the area.  They have done a very thorough job, but of course the terrain makes it really hard to say for sure that he isn't there somewhere.  The unknowns are really hard.  But the hardest is the family members lashing out at each other.  There are a couple family members accusing my brother of saying some pretty horrible things, which he did not say.  My brother is taking the high ground on it, but it is very hurtful especially for him and mom.  My brother and dad are out searching again today on their own.

 

** Update 3"  I am feeling really down right now.  Still no word of anything.  When my brother called the sheriff's office for information this morning he was told they couldn't tell him anything and that all information now has to go through a cousin and/or his spouse.  I am not  sure how this happened.  This cousin hates my brother.  I think it is because my brother is in law enforcement, and said cousin hates law enforcement due to his criminal background.  Cousin told my brother that he better not show up to any family functions again in a very threatening tone.  The whole this is just awful, and my mom (whose dad is the one missing) is feeling so hurt and cut out of everything.  My aunt has power of attorney, so everything IMO should be going through her, but for some reason she isn't taking it on and my mom is feeling so devastated by all of this she is just giving up for now.  I don't know if we will find out much more at this point because of information flow being severed.

 

Thanks again everyone for you kind thoughts and prayers.

 

**Update 4**  Good news/Bad news

 

The good news:  DH got tired of all the family infighting and miscommunications so he called me aunt last night.  They had a very helpful talk and straightened a lot of stuff out.  My cousin and his wife are still going to be troublemakers but at least my aunt knows the truth now and we found out that she didn't believe half of what they were saying either way.  My aunt also had no idea that cousin and wife had told the other sheriff's office they were speaking for the family.  She was not happy about it

 

The bad news:  The local sheriff's office is taking over the investigation (well this is a good thing really) but the sad part is that they believe it was likely foul play and not grandpa just wandering off on his own.  The worst part is the other sheriff;s office really (IMO) flubbed things up a lot.  They let people go through the car, they left the car by the roadside unsecured for days, they didn't collect possible evidence on the ground, so a lot of potential evidence probably lost.  There are some other details that I can't get into because they want to keep it out of public knowledge at this time.  My aunt is having a press conference this morning that the chief criminal deputy set up to answer questions.  We are continuing to put out flyers and other things to try to see if anyone has any information.  And my aunt is the family liaison to the sheriff's office and will be keeping my mom apprised of any news she hears.

Edited by loowit
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Prayed! Did he visit this area as a child?

 

Not that I know of.  He grew up in another state and didn't move out here until he was a young teen during the depression.  Recently he has spent his time visiting the nearby small town he moved to out here and at the cemetery where grandma is buried, and where is sister was recently buried.  Those were the first places we looked before his car was found.

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If you have specific location of the car posting on Facebook could help. Washington Hikers & Climbers. Is it police searching or the SAR team? Hikers in the area will be on alert if they know about it.

 

Will be praying!

 

Thanks.

My cousin's wife posted on Facebook, and it has been getting shared out.  It is the Skamania County and the Volcano SAR.

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Have you contacted the media about his disappearance? This seems like something that would definitely make the TV news and would also be covered by local newspapers.

 

It's great to inform hiking groups and get the info out over social media, but a lot of average people who would never see those posts might watch TV news or subscribe to the newspaper, and if they happened to see your grandfather, they might never know that he needed help.

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Have you contacted the media about his disappearance? This seems like something that would definitely make the TV news and would also be covered by local newspapers.

 

It's great to inform hiking groups and get the info out over social media, but a lot of average people who would never see those posts might watch TV news or subscribe to the newspaper, and if they happened to see your grandfather, they might never know that he needed help.

 

It is now in the news.  Hopefully they will find him soon.

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