Updated at 6:54 p.m.
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
Centralia police are asking the public to keep their eyes out for an 80-year-old man, or his gold-colored passenger car, who left his home overnight and hasn’t returned.
Raymond Wolford
Officer Stacy Denham says Raymond E. Wolford is suffering from the early stages of dementia and the late stages of bone cancer. He requires medication daily.
Police were called about 1:20 a.m. today to the 1800 block of Shamrock Drive – south of Providence Centralia Hospital – where his wife said she had heard him leave, according to Denham.
“She doesn’t know exactly when he left,” he said.
The car was gone from the garage car leading police to think Wolford left with it. It is a 2001 Toyota Avalon, with a license plate of 0077 VXR.
The man’s wife thought he could have headed to his son’s home in Bingen in southern Washington but no one has been able to locate him anywhere, Denham said.
They’re very concerned about him, he said.
“The family is checking with family, places he could go, they even talked with his pastor on Coal Creek Road,” Denham said.
Police have entered Wolford’s information and missing person status into various law enforcement databases, including the automatic license plate readers some police agencies equip their patrol cars with, according to Denham.
In the meantime, police are asking for the public’s help, just in case anyone sees the car on a logging road or in some strange place, Denham said.
Wolford is 5-feet 10-inches tall and weighs 200 pounds with gray hair and brown eyes. He was last seen wearing a dark gray shirt, a blue ball cap, jeans and black shoes.
Police ask anyone to report any sightings or information about Wolford’s whereabouts to the Centralia Police Department on duty supervisor at 360-740-1105.
Update at 9:59 p.m.: Wolford’s family told police around 8:30 or 9 p.m. tonight they located him at a hospital in Everett, “Safe and sound,” Officer Mike Lowrey said.
How he ended up there isn’t yet clear, but more information should be available later, according to Lowrey.
Missing car looks like this one.
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter