WINNIPEG — The search for a Winnipeg senior with dementia who hasn't been seen in two weeks has been continuing with the help of volunteers from the Bear Clan Patrol, but the worry over the man's fate has taken a heavy toll on his family.
"I think what's going on with him is the worst nightmare for anyone who has a loved one with dementia," says Britt Moberg, daughter of Earl Moberg, who went missing on Dec. 12.
"We try to build all sorts of scenarios as to how he might possibly still be alive, but he hasn't been found."
Police in Winnipeg issued a Silver Alert for Moberg, who is 81, shortly after his family told them he'd left his home in the city's northeast. Officers conducted searches and asked that people check garages and outbuildings, as well as any footage from surveillance cameras, for any signs of him.
The Bear Clan Patrol, a neighbourhood watch group in Winnipeg that walks through streets and alleys looking to help those most in need, has also organized searches, including one on Tuesday.
Britt Moberg, who lives in Victoria, B.C., but has been in Winnipeg since Dec. 14 to help with the searches, says her dad is a retired teacher, born and raised in Winnipeg. She says her mother went out on the afternoon of Dec. 12 while a home-care worker took care of her husband, and that she'd spoken with him on the phone, telling him she'd be home at 5:30 p.m.
When Britt's mother returned to their home, Earl Moberg wasn't there and the tracking device he was supposed to wear wasn't on him. He had his phone, but wasn't picking up until one of his sons was finally able to connect with him at around 6:30 p.m.
"My dad was able to say he was near a green sign and he did say to my brother 'Main Street' and a number, '50-something'," Britt Moberg says.
"He indicated he was walking up to an underpass. And then unfortunately it sounds like my dad may have put the phone in his pocket or something because he wasn't responding, but my brother could hear him continuing to walk."
Further attempts to call him weren't answered. He tried calling another relative at around 8:30 that evening but the call was missed, and that was the last anyone heard from him.
Moberg says police have told her that her dad's phone was tracked that evening to a location not that far from their home, but that police said it could be as much as three kilometres off.
She says it's frustrating that Silver Alerts aren't sent out to mobile phones the way Amber Alerts for children are, adding she believes people likely drove or walked past her dad in the hours after he was reported missing but didn't know to look for him.
Sharing news stories online about her missing dad has also been a challenge, as Facebook in Canada doesn't allow news stories to be shared due to parent company Meta's dispute with Ottawa over the Online News Act.
Still, Moberg says she's been touched by the support volunteer searchers have shown.
"There's been a number of people who are strangers who have come out from the community and said they have loved ones with dementia, and they really want to come out and support looking for my dad," Moberg said.
Kevin Walker, executive director of the bear Clan Patrol, says some of their members know how hard it is when a loved one suffers from dementia.
"Living with that condition is hard on the family and at this time, in the circumstances they're in, it's hard to find closure," Walker said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 26, 2023.
The Canadian Press
