Elderly man goes missing, found at neighbor’s house

A Woodbury man who suffers from Alzheimer’s went missing for about three hours before police found him at a neighbor’s house Wednesday night.

The 83-year-old man walked away from his home at the 2800 block of Robinwood Way, police said.

The Woodbury Public Safety Department received the call around 6:30 p.m. from the man’s wife who said he’d been gone for about a half hour.

Police checked the area and didn’t find the man, then they began reaching out to the public for help.

At about 8:30 p.m., police sent out an emergency notification message to all listed phone numbers located within a half mile radius, Sgt. Neil Bauer said.

About 1,200 residents received the notification the first time it went out, he added.

Then a total of 4,000 got the second phone call that reached everyone within a one-mile radius.

“Which prompted a significant response from the neighborhood, there were quite a few people out looking,” Bauer said.

The man had walked into a neighbor’s house that was unlocked and went in there thinking it was his house, Bauer said.

The neighbors were out looking for the man and when they returned they found him at their house around 9 p.m.

“We appreciate the people that did receive the Code Red, we appreciate them coming out and helping,” Bauer said.

Code Red is an emergency notification system used by the City of Woodbury and Washington County to local residents and businesses of emergency situations.

To sign up, visit http://www.ci.woodbury.mn.us/emergency-preparedness/codered-emergency-mass-notification-system.

Tags: area news, news, woodbury