Missing man with dementia died of exposure near Boulevard Park

Liberato “Bob” Trotta, the 87-year-old man with dementia who vanished Feb. 20, died of exposure to the cold, most likely on the night he left his home, autopsy results show.

“There is no accurate way from the autopsy to establish time with more certainty,” said Dr. Gary Goldfogel, Whatcom County medical examiner. “His body was found at the base of a steep embankment over which he appears to have fallen.”

Goldfogel said Trotta’s death appears accidental, with no sign of inflicted trauma or that a crime was committed.

Trotta’s body was discovered Wednesday afternoon near Boulevard Park by a construction crew working in the 400 block of South State Street, officials and family members said. The steep hillside is covered in a blackberry thicket, west of an apartment complex overlooking Bellingham Bay.

Trotta’s wife, Christine Roberts, said police told her Wednesday afternoon that her husband’s body had been found, and they provided a support officer.

“He was not visible from any angle except where he fell. It’s nice that somebody was observant enough to find him,” Roberts said. She said she had searched the area herself last week, and didn’t see his body.

Trotta was last seen at his home along Chuckanut Drive North south of Fairhaven Park about 10 p.m. Feb. 20, when he slipped into the night wearing only street clothes and a raincoat. Officers with dogs tracked his scent to the edge of the Fairhaven shopping district, where the trail ended.

Temperatures that night dropped to the high 30s, with intermittent light rain and fog, according to National Weather Service records.

Police issued a Silver Alert and officers, detectives and trained search-and-rescue personnel with dogs and a helicopter scoured the area through the night Feb. 20 and Feb. 21. Trails in the area were searched and posters with his photo were placed around town. Officers on foot and on bicycles joined the search and drone was also used, said Bellingham Police Lt. Danette Beckley.

Friend and neighbor Greg Doudna said Trotta was well-known in the Fairhaven shopping district from his work as a window washer over the past decade. Many businesses posted fliers with Trotta’s photo.

Trotta was also well-known among local folk dancers and mushroomers, activities that he enjoyed in his retirement, friends said. But he lost the ability to understand and communicate as his illness progressed.

“He was very active; he folk danced,” Doudna said last week. “As recently as four to five years ago, he was jogging. He was active. He was kind, gentle. Good sense of humor.”

Roberts said despite the stress and anxiety of the past week, she remains grateful to friends, family, and others who searched for her husband and provided emotional support.

“I’m busily thanking friends and family and all the people who looked and searched and supported us in so many ways,” she said.

This story was originally published March 1, 2017 at 9:48 PM with the headline "Missing man with dementia died of exposure near Boulevard Park."