UPDATED AT 1:33 p.m.: Riverside County Sheriff’s Department Search and Rescue teams are hopeful they will find a 63-year-old Alzheimer’s patient who went missing from his Lake Elsinore home last week.
Tuesday morning, 12 search and rescue teams combed the city and surrounding open spaces, looking for Craig Staneart who disappeared from his Maes Avenue home around 5:30 p.m. Feb. 7.
Search dogs and a sheriff’s department helicopter have been used in the search that has been ongoing since the Lake Elsinore man was reported missing by his family the morning of Feb. 8.
Tuesday, a sheriff's department command center was set up at the corner of Lakeshore Drive and Dryden Street.
“Each day the search gets bigger and bigger,” said Sgt. R. Duckett of the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department.
Duckett, who was at the command center Tuesday, asked that the public also keep an eye out for the missing man.
“As we search open places, we ask that the public watch for him in public places,” Duckett said.
Duckett said Staneart reportedly likes chocolate milk and little else.
“He doesn’t like food or crowds,” the sergeant said. (Click here for an update from the family.)
Staneart reportedly knows his name, has identification, money and a cell phone with him, Duckett explained.
The cell phone battery is believed to be dead because a signal has not been able to be found, the sergeant said.
Local hospitals are being checked daily, and a flyer with Staneart’s description has been distributed throughout the community.
“He has dementia and may be confused,” the flyer states.
Staneart was last seen wearing a red shirt, jeans and denim jacket. He has brown hair and blue eyes, is approximately 6’3” tall and weighs about 220 pounds.
The search will continue through the night and frosty low temperatures have been a concern, Duckett said.
“The weather is a factor,” he said.
Anyone who sees Staneart is asked to contact the Lake Elsinore Sheriff’s Station at 951-245-3300 or 951-674-3202.
