Missing Man with Dementia Is Found Safe as 'Speechless' Wife Spots Him on TV at Shelter Over 200 Miles Away
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KSL News/Youtube
A missing man with dementia has been reunited with his wife after she spotted him on the news over 200 miles away from their Wyoming home.
Michael Black, 91, found his way to the Rescue Mission of Salt Lake homeless shelter after hitchhiking to Salt Lake City from their home in the town of Afton, theAssociated Pressreported.
“I put the 10 p.m. [local time] news on,” Avril told the outlet of turning on the television on Wednesday, Nov. 27; the day before Thanksgiving.
“I didn’t know where he was,” she said of her husband, who was diagnosed with dementia eight years ago.
A photo outside the Rescue Mission of Salt Lake homeless shelter.Google Maps
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Google Maps
“I mean it was so unreal, I saw the picture!” she added to the outlet. “I was so relieved, I actually slept that night knowing he was safe.”
“I’m speechless. It just blows me away that that happened. Boy does he have some guardian angel looking after him. And you guys, thank goodness that you were there,” Avril continued, thanking the Afton Police Department and the team at the Rescue Mission of Salt Lake for looking after her husband.
“The police have been wonderful to us,” she told the outlet. “And the rescue home, they gave him warm clothes and a blanket and really took care of him.”
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Per the AP, Avril had reported Michael missing on Nov. 25 and police managed to “map his journey through southern Idaho and into northern Utah, where the trail went cold,” the news agency reported.
“I realized the sweet old man was in need of some help,” he added.
Afton Police Chief, Jason Romberg, told the station Michael “is a very, very congenial and a jovial person when you talk to him,” adding, “He warms his way and you think, ‘What can we do to help you?’ ”
“This is not the first time,” the officer said of him going missing, per the outlet. “But we’ve previously found him within a few hours close to home.”
source: people.com
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