Search for 83-year-old Coldstream with Alzheimer's enters third day
Search and rescue teams from around the region have joined in the search for a missing 83-year-old Coldstream man who was last seen on Tuesday. Robert Lee Baines went missing from his son's home on Ponderosa Way on Jan. 2. Search and rescue teams will be knocking on doors to...
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Search and rescue teams from around the region have joined in the search for a missing 83-year-old Coldstream man who was last seen on Tuesday.
Robert Lee Baines went missing from his son's home on Ponderosa Way on Jan. 2.
Search and rescue teams will be knocking on doors to get permission to search yards in the neighbourhoods surrounding Kalamalka Provincial Park today in an effort to find Baines who was recently diagnosed with Alzheimer's.
Residents in the area are being asked to check their backyards, outbuildings, RVs and any shelter on their property where Baines could be.
Vernon search manager Leigh Pearson says there are 44 people officially searching with more members of the public hiking around the park and keeping an eye out for Baines.
“Everything that we’ve got so far leads us to believe he’s probably in Kalamalka Lake park but there is never 100 per cent of that it’s always a best guess. Unfortunately in this case when he left we had no direction of travel or anything so he could have gone to any point on the compass, but we’re doing the best we can with the information we have available to us,” Pearson said.
Pearson says the searchers remain optimistic.
“People astonish me all the time with how long they can survive in a situation like this. We’re optimistic but we’re also realists so it is what it is. We’ll keep looking on the assumption that he’s still out there doing his thing,” he said.
He says search and rescue and RCMP have not yet considered when they will end the search.
“We may call it today, we may go tomorrow, it’s up to the RCMP and us. We make a joint decision on these things. At this stage we haven’t even considered (ending the search) yet,” he said.
RCMP describe Baines as a 83-year-old male, 5’9” tall, 200 lb. with a bald head and brown eyes. He was last seen wearing a green jacket, grey undershirt, blue jeans, white hiking shoes and a green Tilly hat.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Vernon North Okanagan RCMP at 250-545-7171.
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