TABOR CITY - Police on both sides of the state line and the CUE Center for Missing Persons are seeking help from the public in the search for a Longs, South Carolina man last seen in Tabor City last week, Lt. Greg Sibbett of the Tabor City Police Department said Friday.
Officials with the Wilmington-based CUE Center are assisting law enforcement in the search for Danny Atkins, Sibbett said.
Atkins, 63, was last seen on N.C. 904 near Food Lion about mid-morning Tuesday, Jan. 20, Sibbett said. He was first noticed in Tabor City on the afternoon of Jan. 19, when his white Toyota Tacoma apparently became disabled.
Witnesses said they saw two men helping Atkins push the truck out of the roadway at the corner of N.C. 904 and Complex Street, just outside the town limits.
"We would like to talk to the men who were helping push the truck," Sibbett said. "They may can give us some idea as to Mr. Atkins' state of mind or his condition."
Other witnesses have reported seeing Atkins in or around the Food Lion, Sibbett said.
Atkins has "health issues that may cause him to become disoriented," Lt. Raul Denis of the Horry County (South Carolina) Police Department said in a news release Thursday.
Atkins was reported missing by his brother on Jan. 22, the same day the Toyota was impounded by the Columbus County Sheriff's Office. Atkins's vehicle was found on Hickman Road in Tabor City, North Carolina on Thursday, January 22.
