The family of a missing Laramie man who may be suffering from dementia is asking for the public’s help in locating him.
Donnie Smith, 79, was last seen mowing the grass at his Laramie home by a neighbor on at about 1 p.m. Wednesday afternoon. He left at some point thereafter in his silver GMC Envoy, leaving both his wallet and cellphone at home, said Smith’s son-in-law Wade Reher.
His family didn’t realize that nobody in the family hadn’t talked to Smith until Friday night, at which point Reher reported him missing.
Typically, someone in the family checks in on Smith every day, but there had been confusion when they realized Friday that nobody had spoken to Smith since Wednesday.
The last call on Smith’s cellphone that he’d left at home was about 1 p.m. Wednesday, which tracks with the neighbor’s last confirmed sighting.
In the ensuing hours since discovering Smith was missing, Reher and his family are out searching for him as well as the Albany County Sheriff’s Office, which issued an alert on its Facebook page earlier Saturday.
Reher and his wife have driven the distance between Laramie and Cheyenne, where Smith owns a second home with his wife. He spends the majority of his time at the home in Laramie, Reher said.
Reher also drove to Smith’s frequent haunts in Laramie, including The Iron Skillet, Walmart and his favorite Mexican restaurant.
Smith does not wear a life alert device and his older model truck was not equipped with the vehicle tracking device, OnStar. Smith does have an Apple Watch, but it was not synced to the internet.
Calls for “John Does” at area hospitals have likewise turned up nothing, but Reher said that the Albany County Sheriff’s Office has issued a BOLO (be on the lookout) for Smith’s vehicle in Wyoming and surrounding states.
Memory Slipping
Smith has never disappeared in the past for any length of time, Reher said, but in the past six months, his mental faculties have been declining with a doctor diagnosing him with moderate dementia.
Directions have recently become a problem for him, Reher said, and he gets confused sometimes while driving.
“He’s declining enough that more and more normal things are getting harder for him,” Reher said.
Smith is not much of a traveler in his older age, but Reher said he might have gone to Hanna, where he used to live, but they’ve checked and did not find him. They’ve also been to Woods Landing and Fox Park in Albany County.
There’s a chance he may have tried to go to Rock Springs because he had family members temporarily working in the area. In fact, the last call on Smith’s cellphone was to one of those family members, who was unable to take Smith’s call due to a problem with his phone.
Otherwise, Reher and family have no idea where he might have gone and are concerned for his welfare.
Smith has limited mobility and has a left prosthetic leg that causes him to walk slowly, and he does not use crutches or a walker.
The Albany County Sheriff’s Office did not respond to a request for updates prior to publication.
Anyone who sees Smith or his silver 2005 GMC Envoy with Wyoming license plate number 2-45083 is asked to call the Albany County Sheriff Office dispatch at 307-721-2526.
Jen Kocher can be reached at jen@cowboystatedaily.com.
