By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
Police and volunteers are searching around Morton today hoping to find a 76-year-old man who failed to return to his assisted living facility on Friday.
Lawrence W. Thorsteinson
Lawrence W. Thorsteinson apparently has minor dementia, he takes medication for it, according to Morton Police Department Chief Dan Mortensen.
Mortensen said Thorsteinson has lived at Heritage House for the past couple of years and has no family in the area.
He was reported missing about 9:30 p.m. on Friday.
Thorsteinson was last seen around noon on Friday at Heritage House at 860 W. Main Ave. and also during the same time frame trying to check into Roy’s Motel a few blocks away, but he had no money, Mortensen said.
Police have contacted his known acquaintances and the businesses he frequents in town and no one has seen him, according to the chief.
When last seen, he was wearing a brown hat, a brown sweater or jacket, a red shirt and jeans, according to police. He is 5-feet 10-inches tall, weighing about 190 pounds with gray hair and brown eyes.
Police initiated an automated call yesterday to about 900 homes in the area with no results, Mortensen said.
Mortensen said some volunteers from Chehalis are expected today to check the wooded areas around town.
Jennifer Mau, a Morton woman who runs a private group called Search and Seek, said she is looking along the banks of the nearby Tilton River and had about three or four individuals answer her call to meet at Gus Backstrom Park at 11 a.m. to look for Thorsteinson.
The volunteers include a private contractor from Longview who conducts searches with dogs, three of which are in Morton today, according to Mau.
Mossyrock resident Coleen Reeder whose father lives at Heritage House learned of the search parties this morning and is packing up her husband and three teenage boys to head out to help.
Chief Mortensen said law enforcement officers have pretty well scoured areas in town and it’s possible Thorsteinson got on a bus or was picked up by a friend and gone somewhere.
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter
Thanks for your help to find him to be safe, we are appericate that……. Hope he will be found.
This is my Uncle and I’ve been trying to post this on facebook and not having any luck. Saved it to my documents and tried to attach it but it won’t let me any suggestions…
Thanks to all the volunteers who have helped searched for our dad. He’s been estranged from the family for years. We appreciate your compassion. The last word is that he was seen in White Pass, so someone must have given him a ride.
People were out that same night, but with no good luck.
Hope he’s found in the company of friends and doing fine.
Now any body wonder why we live in Lewis Co.? All these people turn out to look for a person who doesn’t even have a family here. Makes me proud to live here. Seems like all I ever hear on this forum is how awful Lewis Co. is. We need to hear more stories like this . Also people like Jennifer Mau and Coleen Reeder. These are the kind of People I grew up with here in Lewis Co. How come we are just now seeing this today?I live in Randle and never heard till I read this today. Hope they find this gentleman safe. It was so cold up here last night , it sure does not bode well.