Dementia Man Missing
June 19-21, 2025
Anza Area
2025-023
Written by: David Bever
RMRU received a call to assist with a search for a missing resident at 0700hrs on Thursday 6/19/2025 in a rural area in Anza, CA. The reporting party (RP) indicated the subject, a 61-year-old male with no major medical conditions had been working on his property in Anza and failed to return home the night before. The subject was last seen on his Anza property on Wednesday late in the afternoon. The last cellphone contact was late evening when the subject was heard potentially out of breath, running, followed by a “thud” and loss of contact. The subject’s wife reported him missing early Thursday morning.
Our first RMRU member arrived on scene to find RSO Deputies along with the subject’s van. Deputies indicated they checked the immediate vicinity, along with a blood hound and helicopter STAR9 and found nothing. RMRU members with the assistance of two Riverside County Search Dog (RCSD) members, RSO MED Horse team, and four Desert Sheriff’s Search and Rescue team members (DSSAR) all performed a hasty search followed by a grid search of the property until the search was suspended after sunset.
The search continued on day 2 with RMRU team members and two RCSD team members. A decision was made to expand the search team with Cal OES teams in the mid-morning. By afternoon we were joined by 28 additional searchers from RSO UAS, RSO SERT, San Diego County Sheriff’s Office SAR, San Diego Mountain Rescue Team, San Bernadino SAR, San Bernadino Sheriff’s Office, and the San Bernadino Cave and Rescue Team. Our search area expanded to include locations identified by cell phone forensics, again with no results until the search was suspended again after sunset. An additional Cal OES mutual aid request was made for the third day.
Day 3 search began with seven search dog teams and eighty-seven searchers from across Southern California. RMRU Members and teams from (RSO UAS and SERT, San Diego Mtn Rescue team, San Diego Sheriff’s Office SAR, CARDA, San Bernardino Cave and Rescue, SB Victor Valley, SB Mtn SAR, SB Bear Valley, SB West Valley, SB RIM SAR, Orange County SAR, DSSAR, and Riverside County Search Dogs) all joined the search.
Search team members expanded the search area out to a 1-mile radius. At a little after 0915hrs, the subject was located approximately 850 feet from the CP sitting near a large boulder in apparent good health. The subject appears to have been intentionally evading searchers for the past 2 days. CalFire and AMR called, and the subject was transported to Temecula Valley Hospital for evaluation.
RMRU Members involved: (David Altenberg, David Bever, Coby Brown, Alex Cochran, Joe Erickson, Edgar Gelabert, Shana Gutovich, Glenn Henderson, Eric Holden, Dave Kosmal, Geoff Marshall, Shani McCullough, Tobias Moyneur, Rob Newton, Vinay Roa, Stephanie Robertson, Solan Watts, Ray Weden and Richard Yocum)
Other Agencies Involved: (Riverside County Search Dogs, RSO Southwest, RSO UAS and SERT, San Diego Mtn Rescue team, San Diego Sheriff’s Office SAR, CARDA, San Bernardino Cave and Rescue, SB Victor Valley, SB Mtn SAR, SB Bear Valley, SB West Valley, SB RIM SAR, Orange County SAR, DSSAR, CalFire Patrol 28, and AMR 502)