Sheila Ann Lopes, Escondido, CA

[DewSeeker]

Officials have suspended their search for a 71-year-old Alzheimer's patient missing since Thursday, but family members hope the woman will be soon be found safely in the nearly 700-home development she lives in.

Sheila Ann Lopes was last seen by relatives at their home in the 2100 block of Woodland Heights Glen, one of nearly 700 houses in the gated community of Emerald Heights, police said.


http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2008/08/31/news/inland/escondido/z5c4da643d4fec5f4882574b7000f372f.txt

[monkalup]

http://i37.tinypic.com/21b6ohz.jpg
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/northco...n03missing.html (http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/northcounty/20081003-1345-bn03missing.html)

By Debbi Baker
UNION-TRIBUNE BREAKING NEWS TEAM

1:45 p.m. October 3, 2008

ESCONDIDO – The family of a 71-year-old Alzheimer's patient who has been missing since she wandered from her home in late August is offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to her return.


Sheila Ann Lopes
Sheila Ann Lopes was last seen about midnight Aug. 28 at the home on Woodland Heights Glen in the Emerald Heights neighborhood where she lives with her 74-year-old husband, Frank, said son-in-law Paul Menth.

Despite an extensive and exhaustive search that included Escondido police, the Sheriff's Department and hundreds of volunteers, not a trace of Lopes has surfaced.

The mystery deepens in that Emerald Heights is a gated community of about 700 homes with 24-hour security and video cameras at the gates, according to Menth. There is no evidence that she ever passed through the enclosures, he said.

The family believes that Lopes, who has been suffering from Alzheimer's disease for six years, got up, dressed and went outside to smoke a cigarette the night she went missing, Menth said.

Her niece and a friend were staying at the house at the time and had brought a young dog that was in the yard. Menth said Lopes may have either decided to take it for a walk or it may have gotten loose and she followed it.



Advertisement It was very foggy that night and her niece's car was in the driveway, which may have contributed to her being disoriented, Menth said. “It changed the shape of the house,” he said.
About 10 hours later, Lopes showed up at a home where Menth and his wife, Kerry, used to live, which is about a 20-minute walk from her home and in the same community.

A startled woman who had a young daughter at home asked her to leave. The dog was found nearby about 11 a.m., Menth said.

Menth said that the ordeal has been very hard on his father-in-law, and that his wife is holding up as well as can be expected, but “every once in a while it washes over her and all I can do is hold her,” he said. “There are no words.”

He said the family, which also includes two sons who live on the East Coast, has been on an emotional roller coaster and is hoping that the reward will help them find answers.

“We hope she's on this planet; it's a big world out there,” he said.

Lopes is white, about 5 feet 6 inches tall and 135 pounds, with gray shoulder-length hair. She was wearing a teal-green long-sleeve shirt and teal-green pants with white canvas deck shoes.

Originally from London, she speaks with a slight British accent and smiles a lot. Menth said his mother-in-law had nothing with her when she left except some jewelry that she always wears. Escondido police Lt. Chris Wynn said the department has no evidence of foul play. He said detectives still get calls about possible leads.

Wynn said it's impossible to speculate as to Lopes' whereabouts or whether she is still alive. He said elderly people with diminished mental capacities can sometimes end up in other areas or even on the streets, where they have the wherewithal to survive but not the ability to tell anyone who they are.

Menth said searchers knocked on doors of every home in the community. Friends also visited several homeless shelters and volunteers have put up hundreds of fliers, he said. He said the response from everyone, including law enforcement, has been tremendous.

Menth said the family decided to offer the reward with the hope that it will lead to information and ultimately closure.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Escondido Police Department at (760) 839-4722, or an anonymous tip line at (760) 743-8477.
Debbi Baker: (619) 293-1710; debbi.baker@uniontrib.com

[monkalup]

www.ci.escondido.ca.us/POLICE/news/missing/lopes.pdf