Older brother keeps up the search for missing 74-year-old with dementia

“Please come home. I miss you, brother. I love you.” Geno Johnson, 83, could barely get the words out Thursday morning, breaking into tears as he looked out onto the ball field at Beyer Community Park where he and his younger brother regularly enjoy playing softball games with fellow seniors.

Regularly, that is, until April 1, when 74-year-old Gary Johnson, who suffers dementia and short-term memory loss, walked away from the home the brothers share near Oakdale Road and Mable Avenue.

Gary Johnson last was seen that Saturday afternoon around 1:30 near the intersection of Briggsmore and Sunrise avenues in central Modesto. He was wearing blue jeans, a short-sleeved shirt with red lettering and Nike shoes. He also had a jacket tied around his waist and had on his blue ballcap with the Stanislaus Senior Softball Association logo stitched on the crown.

Nearly two weeks later, more than half of the association’s roughly 800 members are keeping up the search for his brother, Geno Johnson said.

A Silver Alert has been issued. Law enforcement agencies throughout California have been alerted through the TRAK (Technology to Recover Abducted Kids) system. Fliers have been posted as far north as Lodi, Geno said.

Where he’s been, what he’s been eating, where he’s spent nights – all that is a mystery.

Gary is fond of Jack in the Box, and loves Perko’s even more, so may recognize and enter those restaurants, whose employees have been asked to watch for him. He left his wallet at home, though, so has no money.

“If he’s in a park, he might gravitate toward baseball games,” said Modesto Police Department Missing Person Investigator Christy Beffa. But he has a short attention span so might not stay long.

Together or apart, Beffa and Geno Johnson have been spearheading efforts daily to find Gary. His brother is friendly with people he knows, Geno said, but quiet around those he doesn’t. He’s unlikely to approach someone for help, but with his dementia, he sometimes thinks he knows a person he doesn’t so may say something like, “Hey, buddy, how’ve you been?”

Because shelters have been alerted to Gary’s plight, he apparently has not been to any, so likely still wears the same clothing. Beffa cautioned that it shouldn’t be assumed he’s in the ballcap, though, as he easily could have lost it at some point.

Geno noted that his brother favors his right knee when he walks. He also noted he has blue eyes so brilliant “they call him Frank Sinatra.”

Out on his own for as long as he’s been, Gary might at this point appear to be homeless. There are many kindhearted people who offer food and money to the homeless, Modesto Police Department spokeswoman Heather Graves said, and she encouraged those people to take a close look to see if the person they’re helping is him.

Geno has cared for his younger brother for five years. He was doing the wash in the rear of their home in the Homewood Village manufactured home community when his brother left. “I always tell him where I am in the house,” he said, but when he came to the front, Gary had gone out through a side door.

When his brother has gone out before, he’s walked around the complex. So Geno got into his car and drove the streets looking for him, but there was no sign. Figuring he needed help, he called the police.

There have been many reports by people believing they’ve seen Gary – including several in the college area – but none have panned out. There is a man who frequently sits at the corner of Lakewood and Orangeburg avenues and who strongly resembles him, which has led to lots of calls, Graves said.

“Very rarely do we have a case where someone is missing this long,” she said. When a person first is reported missing, the police and fire departments deploy a lot of resources and spread the word on Facebook and other social media, Graves said. Usually, the subject is found within the day.

Beffa said she was concerned that when area residents learned a body had been found east of Modesto on Wednesday, they might assume it was Gary’s and give up the search. While the body has yet to be identified, authorities confirmed it is not his.

So the search goes on, in big part thanks to the softball players, who are “like family,” Geno said. When his brother plays ball, he at first appears like any of the other guys out there, he said. But when Gary starts to run the bases, his confusion is apparent. Those teammates, who call to him which direction to run and when to stop, now are calling for him in a different, more urgent, way.

This story was originally published April 13, 2017 at 2:06 PM with the headline "Older brother keeps up the search for missing 74-year-old with dementia."