this case frustrates me to no end
not saying that this is a simple case of dementia wandering (so many weird little details) but i think its always pertinent to know the facts:
-dementia missing incidents mostly happened when the person was performing an everyday, typical action (Bowen et al., 2011)
-likely to be discovered in stranger's yards, in the street, or in businesses (including hospitals)
-half of wanderers found within 5 miles of where they were living, only 7% found 10+ miles away
-when found, usually found by good samaritans/law enforcement; when a missing report has been filed, much more likely to be found by law enforcement
-80% of those missing were found within 12 hours
-seems like those who leave on foot (vs taking a car or taking a bus) have a higher probability of being gone for longer
-4 people (among the sample of 463) were found dead; one was found under brush half a mile from his home, another was found dead in the cornfield behind his home, one dead near an airport (and not found for a while), and the last man had been struck by a train (
Rowe & Glover, 2001).
>ive seen a wide variety of mortality rates (up to 40%) due to wandering...depends where the researchers are getting their data i.e. is it from a safe return program (so all missing cases)? news articles (missing for long enough to get published)?
-87% of those found dead were found in nature/secluded places, usually less than a mile away. of this sample, majority passed due to exposure, and 1/4 due to drowning. often the person tried to hunker down in a secluded spot and thus was hard to find.
-more than 10% of the deceased in that sample took more than a month to find (
Rowe & Bennett, 2003)
-more than half of those who wander and are reported missing came from a 'domestic' home setting (as was Betty) (
White & Montgomery, 2014)
