Police safely find 91-year-old who wandered away from Las Cruces nursing home, feared in peril in heat
UPDATE: After ABC-7's alert went out, Las Cruces police said they found the missing elderly man, feared in peril in the heat, walking near a CVS pharmacy.
Authorities expressed relief at safely locating 91-year-old Salvador Montoya, who had walked away from a nursing home, noting that elderly residents have died in the past from being overcome by heat after wandering off.
“So in the 15 years I have been here we have had three individuals who have died or succumbed to the heat," said LCPS spokesman Dan Trujillo. “Somebody, especially elderly, who was out all night and then for the majority of the day without any hydration, that could be a death penalty for them.”
ORIGINAL REPORT: LAS CRUCES, New Mexico -- Police issued a Silver Alert Thursday morning for a 91-year-old Las Cruces man who they fear could be at risk of perishing in the heat after he wandered away from a local nursing home.
Officers on Thursday morning were actively searching the area around the Blue Horizon Assisted Living facility at 2707 Spitz Avenue for the missing man, identified as Salvador Montoya.
Montoya was described as bald and wearing glasses, with a white beard and salt and pepper mustache. Police said they think he may have walked through an undeveloped desert area from the facility toward El Camino Real or Dona Ana Road.
If spotted, authorities ask that you immediately call 911 or Las Cruces police at (575) 526-0795.
