Overnight ordeal ends with missing DeSoto man safe

by Nikki Rowden of TODAY Newspapers

The Thanksgiving Day ordeal of Jack Perkins, an 88-year-old DeSoto man who went missing, had a happy ending.

His family realizes the outcome could have been much worse.

“You read about all of the other people who deal with situations like this,” one of Perkins' two daughters, said. “We never thought we would be next.”

Nov. 22, the family sprung into action after Perkins, who suffers from Alzheimer's, was last seen at Methodist Charlton Medical Center after visiting his wife, who suffers from intermittent mini-strokes.

Perkins' daughter, a Lewisville resident, said she and her husband began calling her parents earlier in the week, without any response. His daughter, who declined to be identified, said they drove to DeSoto and spent the night in the parents' home. Perkins didn't show up the next morning.

One of Perkins' granddaughters works for the Lewisville Police Department; she called to see what the family might do to find the man, who his daughter said had never gone missing before despite having suffered from dementia for a number of years.

Perkins' son-in-law called DeSoto Police who issued a Silver Alert - a warning for senior citizens who go missing similar to the Amber Alert for children. Authorities made sure the Perkins situation met a five-point criteria, including a 65-year-old age requirement, Texas residency, diagnosed mental impairment that poses a health or safety threat, no longer than 72 hours missing and sufficient information to share with the public. All five criteria must be met before a statewide alarm is issued.

In addition to calling police, another of Perkins' granddaughters put a notice about him over the Internet with photos of him and the vehicle he was driving.

“It was awful frightening,” the daughter said of her father, who was missing overnight. “He doesn't remember where he went or what he did.”

The family has been able to determine Perkins slept in his car and tried to find the house he lived in for a time in Oak Cliff.

“He went to somebody's house and asked where his grandmother was,” she said. “The people who lived in the house happened to be doctors and distracted him while the police were called.”

By 5 p.m. Nov. 23, Perkins was back home.

“It was really scary,” his daughter said. “We've taken his keys away from him.”

She said she was glad her family and the DeSoto and Dallas police departments worked together to find her father.

For more information on the state's Silver Alert system, visit the Texas Department of Public Safety website at www.txdps.

state.tx.us, which links to the Governor's Division of Emergency Management.