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Good Samaritan helps police find missing man, behind a tree

Posted at 7:07 PM, Jul 13, 2015
and last updated 2015-07-13 19:07:16-04

COLONIAL HEIGHTS, Va -- It was the tip police were hoping for; when a man buying ice spotted an elderly gentleman who appeared disoriented.

The Good Samaritan told Lt. Tom Kifer, with the Colonial Heights Police, the man was standing next to a tree near a stand-alone ice vending machine.

Lt. Kifer, who was parked in the lot across from the building where the 74-year-old man had walked away, stepped out of his car, and walked to the tree, calling the man by name.

He quickly realized he had found the missing man.

Police say around eleven o'clock Monday morning, they got a call from the Hope Unity Freedom Center on New Castle Drive, that one of their patients had walked away, and this was only his third time at the center.

"He's a daytime participant at the center," Lt.  Kifer said. "He's new to the center, he's only been there a few times and he just didn't want to be there today."

Police canvassed the area but didn't find the man and then utilized a new system, alerting citizens via email, text, and telephone, with a description of the man.

But it was an alert driver of a pickup who solved the case.

"As with most crimes and other events that happen in the city, somebody saw something that just didn't look right and notified a police officer," Kifer said.

The man was taken to the police station, where he was picked up and taken back to the group home where he lives.