Missing Elderly Tulsa Woman Found Safe After Search

It took Tulsa Police about two hours to find an elderly woman who had walked about five miles from her home early Wednesday.

The husband of Delores Moyer, 79, called police just before 4 a.m. after discovering that she was missing from her bedroom. He had last seen her at 1:30 a.m. wearing a nightgown and slippers.

"I've been out in the neighborhood and the rest of the family members have been out there for a couple hours and at some point you start to give up a little hope," son Bruce Moyer said. "You're thinking where she could have been."

In 33-degree temperatures, more than 20 Tulsa Police officers scoured the area for Delores.

"Officers very quickly got out and they started walking throughout the area and they were actually going door to door through all parts of the neighborhood," TPD Sgt. Justin Farley said.

After searching for her for more than three hours, joggers finally find her walking down the street.

Her house is in a neighborhood near 51st Street and Sheridan Road.

She was near 91st Street and Memorial Drive -- five miles away from her home.

"Apparently she made some good time and got pretty far away," Bruce Moyer said. "This isn't uncommon for people who suffer from Alzheimer's."

Ronda Roberts of the Alzheimer's Association said 60 percent of people with the disease will wander away from home at some point.

"We don't know exactly the reason why, but often times they're looking for someone, they're looking for something or some place to go," she said.

Roberts said family members can take extra precautions to try to prevent it from happening," Roberts said. "You can have extra locks put on your doors or alarms that will ring when the doors are opened. You can get the dead bolts with the key locks."

She also recommends buying a Medic Alert Safe Return ID.

"It has the bracelets or necklaces and that alerts national people and local authorities to go looking for that person," she said.