Found Deceased NE - Levi Blake, 80, Significant Dementia, took a walk from his senior living residence, last seen near 33rd & Lake, Omaha, 17 Aug 2023

[Unalienable Rights]

80-year-old man with dementia missing since Aug. 17

A family member told 3 News Now that they are concerned for his safety due to the extreme heat this week.

www.3newsnow.com

OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — An Omaha man with dementia is missing and police are asking for the public's help. Eighty-year-old Levi Blake was last seen on Aug. 17 at 4 p.m. near 33rd and Lake Streets. A family member told 3 News Now that they are concerned for his safety due to the extreme heat this week.

PLEASE SHARE: Levi Blake, 80,... - Omaha Police Department

PLEASE SHARE: Levi Blake, 80, was last seen on Thursday, August 17th around 4 p.m. near 33rd and Lake Streets. Mr. Blake is 5'9", 150 pounds, and...

www.facebook.com

August 24

PLEASE SHARE:

Levi Blake, 80, was last seen on Thursday, August 17th around 4 p.m. near 33rd and Lake Streets. Mr. Blake is 5'9", 150 pounds, and generally wears slacks and a t-shirt. However, it is unknown what he was wearing at the time he was last seen. Mr. Blake is diagnosed with dementia.

Please contact 911 if you know where Mr. Blake is. Contact Omaha Police at 402-444-4877 with any other helpful information you may have regarding his whereabouts. Thank you!

Omaha Police looking for missing elderly man with dementia

Omaha Police are asking for help finding a missing elderly man diagnosed with dementia.

www.wowt.com

OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) - Omaha Police are asking for help finding a missing elderly man diagnosed with dementia.

According to authorities, 80-year-old Levi Blake was last seen around 4 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 17 near 33rd and Lake streets, around a block from his home.

“He’s a charismatic person,” Blake’s son Terrance Collier said. “A lot of people know him, which makes it odd that he hasn’t been seen or anything.”

Collier said his father’s dementia is significant enough that caregivers assist him a few hours a day, and that he sometimes forgets that Collier is his son.

“It wouldn’t happen too often,” he said. “But every now and again, I have to remind him who I am.”

Adding to the urgency is the fact that Blake has disappeared during a period when temperatures outside have been dangerously high.

Family members reported Blake missing last Friday, and Omaha police said they assigned an investigator to the case Monday.

OPD announced on social media late last night that it needs the public’s help in finding Blake.

However, family members feel it took authorities a long time to put that alert out.

“This is a human life,” Collier said. “He’s out here in these extreme conditions and I just feel a little more effort could be put into trying to help us find him.”

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From this KETV video -- he resided in a senior living home and went for a walk.

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In this KOWT video -- Omaha PD says he doesn't meet the criteria for an Emergency Missing Alert because he doesn't have 24-hr a day supervision and is able to come and go from his residence.

Family is trying to get together a search party of volunteers.

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Unbelievable!
August 17 - Went for a walk from his residence in a senior living home and didn't return. Temperatures were dangerously hot.

August 18 - Reported missing.

August 21 - Omaha PD assigned an investigator to the case.

August 24 - Omaha PD made a statement asking for the public's help.

There is no Silver Alert and no Endangered Missing Alert.

 

[wendybtn]

I have a really bad feeling about this. Praying for a Good Samaritan to guide him to help.

 

[Unsolved]

The article in the OP talks about the dangerously high temps, and when I checked them my heart sank:

August 17 (day missing) was hot, but not as bad as it became later with a high of 79 degrees
August 18 heading up with high of 82 degrees
August 19 high of 97 degrees
August 20 high of 91 degrees
August 21 high of 97 degrees
August 22 high of 99 degrees
August 23 high of 100 degrees
August 24 high of 102 degrees(!)
August 25 high of 90 degrees
August 26 high of 81 degrees
August 27 high of 81 degrees
August 28 high of 86 degrees

Past Weather in Omaha, Nebraska, USA — Yesterday or Further Back

Weather reports from the last weeks in Omaha with highs and lows

www.timeanddate.com

I'd bet that if he was living in a facility it probably had A/C, and he just isn't accustomed to those temps. JMO but I feel that he probably tried to get in somewhere/tried to get some shade, etc. and is still there, wherever that is. No good feeling with this one, and I hate to think if he didn't find someone to help him he could be gone now. Prayers to him and his family that he will be found.

 

[Unsolved]

The family had a search tonight at Adams Park @ 6pm, but I can't find any reports if anything was found:



KETV reporter

RIGHT NOW: Family members are at... - Quanecia Fraser KETV

RIGHT NOW: Family members are at Adams Park searching for 80-year-old Levi Blake. Tomorrow will make two weeks since he’s been missing. Blake has...

www.facebook.com

 

[Unsolved]

There's another search by family on Saturday September 2 at Omaha's Adams Park. I wish I lived closer:

Search Continues for Levi Blake, 80 Year Old with Dementia

Event by Monique Summers and Lashonda Richardson on Saturday, September 2 2023

www.facebook.com

Please join Levi's children and other community members as they continue to search for their father. Levi Blake has now been missing for 16 days and his family is seeking a resolution. If you heart is open to it, the family can use your help. The Omaha Police have verified that Levi left the JC Wade Senior Housing facility wearing grey pants and a black shirt. He is approximately 5'9" and weights about 150 pounds. Any information that you have is welcomed. Call Terrance Collier at 531-203-3810 or OPD with any updates.
Please share this event to help increase the number of people who may be able to help. Thank you. Lashonda and Terry are so grateful for your assistance.

 

[airportwoman]

I hope Levi is found safe, but if he isn't, that whatever happened did so quickly.

We had a comparable story several years ago from my area, although this was a man in his 50s who lived in an MR/DD group home. He was disabled because of a car accident he had been in as a child, and he also had Type 1 diabetes. He went for a walk (something he did regularly; he was high functioning enough to do this on his own) on a hot day and didn't come home. About a week later, some kids had been playing in a large vacant lot, one that's big enough to grow hay on, and told their mom that something really stank there. She didn't say anything to them, but called the police, and while they were hoping it might have been a deer or a large dog, sure enough, it was him. They were unable to determine a cause of death but said it wasn't suspicious.

Other people said on Facebook that they lived in the neighborhood and recognized him. RIP.

 

[PommyMommy]

SEP 3, 2023

Family of missing Omaha man still searching two weeks later

It’s been two weeks since an Omaha man with dementia disappeared.

www.wowt.com

[...]

On Saturday, around a dozen volunteers and family members got together at Adams Park to try and find him.

“Mine and my sister’s search is ongoing,” said Terrance Collier, Blake’s son. “Even after this search here is done, we’re still searching.”

[...]

Collier and his sister said the first volunteer search effort happened this past Wednesday.

While they said Omaha Police and Douglas County Sheriff’s Office crews searched some areas of the park Saturday morning, they wanted to comb through other spots in the evening.

[...]

They said they’re concentrating on low-lying areas and along the tree lines, where there’s thicker brush.

Earlier in the day, they said they were putting posters on light poles and handing them out to the public.

Despite how much time has passed, the dangerously hot weather, and the fact that Blake suffers from dementia and has been without his medication, his family said they just can’t give up hope.

[...]

Both said they may search again on Sunday.

[...]

 

[PommyMommy]

SEP 29, 2023

'He could really be anywhere': OPD releases new video footage in case of missing older man

Omaha police Det. Brett Schrage said just because Blake was last seen in North Omaha, doesn't mean he is still there."It doesn't matter what part of the city you may be in. If you see someone who you think maybe could be Levi, call us. Give us that information. He really could be anywhere in the...

www.ketv.com

[...]

Blake's son, Terrance Collier, said his father goes by the name "Tyrone" or "Pone" most of the time. ...

[...]

"We have a couple of different witnesses and some video surveillance that puts him in the area of 34th and Ohio on Aug. 17, roughly around 4:40 in the afternoon," said Omaha police Det. Brett Schrage.

[...]

"And it shows the person who we believe to be Levi and people have said to be Levi, walking northbound on 34th avenue, before he turns eastbound onto Miami street," Schrage told KETV Newswatch 7.

Schrage said Blake has ties to the Eastern Nebraska Office on Aging. Blake lived at JC Wade Senior Villa near 34th and Ohio. Schrage said Blake's neighbors told him Blake walked in the area of 33rd and Corby, and possibly around 33rd and Lake.

"It appears as if he ended up making his way up to the Adams community center area. He was actually last seen roughly in this area, walking northeast really around (John A) Creighton boulevard," Schrage said.

He said OPD also has footage from the Adams Park Community Center that may also show Blake walking.

[...]

 

[imstilla.grandma]

 

[studebkr]

I joined this site to follow another Omaha cold case. I’m so glad that someone has started a forum here for this active case.

 

[Unalienable Rights]

The family and police had a news conference today, Nov 15.

OPD, Levi Blake's family asks everyone across Omaha area to search for missing man Thursday

The Omaha Police Department is asking people in the metro to "dedicate a portion of their day" on Thursday to look for Levi Blake.

www.3newsnow.com

OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — The Omaha Police Department is asking people in the metro to "dedicate a portion of their day" on Thursday to look for Levi Blake.

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Sgt. Brett Schrange said search areas should especially include places that aren't frequently traveled.

No matter where you are in the Omaha area, Blake's son, Terrance Collier, says you can help.

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Police wouldn't say why they believe Blake got on a bus. There is no video of that happening and they don't know where he might have went beyond that. They said he might have got on a bus on 30th Street between Bedford and Spaulding Streets.

Family friend Sherman Wells asked people who search for Blake in their neighborhoods to share the areas they searched on social media so a map can be created. He asked for people to use hashtags #OPD and #WhereIsMrBlake.

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'Help us find my father': Omaha man with dementia missing 3 months now

Omaha police now believe Levi Blake got on a bus back in August, meaning now, he could be anywhere.

www.ketv.com

They're asking people to mark where they've looked for Blake on social media.

"Upload any videos or pictures with the hashtag #OPD and hashtag #wheresmrblake. That way, we will be able to see the areas that ya'll searched and we can continue to add to the map that we've built together," family friend Sherman Wells said.

Blake's son says his dad goes by the name "Tyrone" or "Pone" most of the time.

Omaha police said if you have any information, even if it seems small, to give them a call anyway at 402-444-5600.

 

[Unalienable Rights]

This is such a sad case. I follow-up, looking for updates for him often, and I'm glad for his family that he has finally been found. This is a sad outcome, but expected. IMO the way his case was handled by Omaha PD was disgraceful; it is a text book example of what not to do when a person with dementia goes missing. Fortunately, it is an exception to the way these cases are usually handled by LE, and not the rule.

Omaha police identify remains as missing elderly man with dementia

The Omaha Police Department identified the remains found on May 3 as an 80-year-old missing man.

www.ketv.com

The Omaha Police Department identified the remains found on May 3 as an 80-year-old missing man.

Levi Blake was reported missing in August of 2023.

*****
On May 3, there was a report of human remains found near the fence line of Conestoga Elementary School in an area covered in overgrown grass.

An autopsy was performed on Saturday, and fingerprints positively identified the remains as Blake.

Police said there were no signs of foul play.

ETA: He was found 1.1 mile from his residence.

 

[annpats]

ETA: He was found 1.1 mile from his residence.

Oh, jeez. Just a mile away. RIP Mr. Blake.

 

[airportwoman]

I'm surprised they could use fingerprints to identify him, after all this time.

 

[annpats]

I'm surprised they could use fingerprints to identify him, after all this time.

That's a good point. I wonder if the harsh winters in Nebraska sort of frozen and preserved some of the skin?
And there were no predators either.

Maybe if he'd gone missing in Arizona, Texas or Florida it would be different.
But then they would have still been able to use DNA to identify.

 

[MyBelle]

This is such a sad case. I follow-up, looking for updates for him often, and I'm glad for his family that he has finally been found. This is a sad outcome, but expected. IMO the way his case was handled by Omaha PD was disgraceful; it is a text book example of what not to do when a person with dementia goes missing. Fortunately, it is an exception to the way these cases are usually handled by LE, and not the rule.

Omaha police identify remains as missing elderly man with dementia

The Omaha Police Department identified the remains found on May 3 as an 80-year-old missing man.

www.ketv.com

The Omaha Police Department identified the remains found on May 3 as an 80-year-old missing man.

Levi Blake was reported missing in August of 2023.

*****
On May 3, there was a report of human remains found near the fence line of Conestoga Elementary School in an area covered in overgrown grass.

An autopsy was performed on Saturday, and fingerprints positively identified the remains as Blake.

Police said there were no signs of foul play.

ETA: He was found 1.1 mile from his residence.

The family of Levi are not blaming Omaha police. In fact, his son is praising police searches in trying to locate him.

I have an elderly family member diagnosed with a form of dementia. Every outside door on his house has an alarm if he opens it.

Levi lived in an elderly-care facility which should have been monitoring his whereabouts. I can't begin to imagine the emotional pain his family has gone through.

JMO

'I couldn't give up on him': Closure, pain for family of elderly man found

Family and friends will hold a vigil for 80-year-old Levi Blake. It's planned for Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. on 24th and Grace.

www.ketv.com