This Silver Alert out of Blaine has happy ending nearly half a state away
An elderly woman who was reported missing out of Blaine Monday night was found nearly halfway across the state running low on energy and gas, but safe, thanks to an alert Washington State Department of Transportation supervisor and a thoughtful state trooper.
At 11:39 p.m. Monday night, the Blaine Police Department issued a Silver Alert for 83-year-old Clara Davis, who was visiting her daughter in the area.
According to the alert, Davis left her daughter’s residence on H Street at 1:30 p.m. to go to a nearby Rite Aid and never returned. Davis has dementia, according to the alert, was unfamiliar with the area and did not have a phone with her. She was believed to be heading toward Bend, Oregon, driving a Chrysler Town and Country van with Oregon plates that was converted to make it more mobility friendly.
Nearly 5 1/2 hours later, a WSDOT supervisor, who driving westbound on state route 410 near Greenwater, heard the Silver Alert rebroadcast by WSDOT communications, according to a release by the Washington State Patrol.
A few minutes later, he spotted a van with Oregon plates traveling extremely slowly, the release said. He passed the van and was able to confirm that the van was Davis’, pulled off the road to let her pass and then continued following it westbound.
Trooper Mike Cheek was dispatched and was able to get Davis to stop the van, where he reportedly found her very tired and her van nearly out of gas.
Davis reportedly asked to go to a motel and that someone else drive her car, so the WSDOT supervisor drove to Enumclaw to get some gas and another driver so that the van could be safely driven to town.
Trooper Cheek drove Davis to a nearby hotel to get some rest, according to the release, and remained there until the family arrived.
According to the Washington State Patrol Alerts and Missing Person’s web page, Silver Alerts are issued for missing persons 60 years or older and are similar to other missing person alerts, such as the AMBER Alerts.
This story was originally published August 28, 2018 at 3:49 PM.