Police Search For Handicapped Couple After Car Found 20 Miles Away
POSTED: July 13, 2005
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Police searched woods near downtown Jacksonville Wednesday for a disabled couple who have not been seen since last week.
Missing are Carol Alford Sumner and her husband, James Reginald Sumner, both 61. Police said both are physically handicapped.
The search was centered near the couple's St. Nicholas home, said Jacksonville Sheriff's Office spokesman Rick Wood. The couple's 1993 Lincoln Town Car was recovered Tuesday night in Baker County.
Police did not release details what they found in the car, which was towed to a police impound lot, where it will be searched for clues to what happened to the couple. Police said there was no sighting of the couple in Baker County.
The couple's daughter, Rhonda Branson, 29, of Hollywood, S.C., called police Sunday after being unable to reach her parents by telephone since Friday. That's the day neighbors say they last saw Carol Sumner as she pulled into her driveway.
A police officer checked out the house Sunday and found the rear door open, but said he saw no evidence of foul play. Missing-persons detectives now call the Sumners' disappearance suspicious and organized a search of the couple's neighborhood by about 40 officers on foot, horseback and with K-9 officers Wednesday morning.
On Monday, Branson drove to Jacksonville, where she found the couple's dog, Mikey, inside the house, food on the stove, and the couple's medication and a cell phone still in the house.
"Everything so left as it is, I believe they were either taken or lured," Branson said. "They are very trusting."
She told police it was out of character for her parents to leave home without telling anyone.
Carol Sumner is undergoing chemotherapy treatment for liver cancer. She also uses a cane to help her walk. Reggie Sumner requires daily injections of insulin to suppress diabetes and uses a wheelchair to get around.
The cane, wheelchair and insulin are still in the house.
This is not the first time Carol Sumner's life has been in doubt. She was shot seven times by her first husband -- who then killed himself -- back in 1987. She lived, but not without complications.
"She contracted hepatitis C from a blood transfusion," Branson said. "From that, she's gotten cirrhosis, which turned into stage 1 liver cancer. She was treated for that. She has no medicines and she's very ill, and her husband is very ill as well."
Anyone with any information about the Sumners is asked to call the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office at (904) 630-0500 or Crimestoppers at (888) 277-TIPS.
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