Eastchester Police Seek Missing 88-Year-Old Woman With Dementia
EASTCHESTER, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- Authorities in the Westchester County community of Eastchester are asking the public's help in the search for a missing elderly woman.
Catherine "Kay" Cotter is 88 years old and has dementia. She was last seen Tuesday near her home on Garth Road on the north side of Eastchester.
Eastchester Police Seek Missing Woman With Dementia
Police Chief Timothy Bonci said there were reports of Cotter possibly having been on a Metro-North train at the Scarsdale station, while other people claimed to have seen her on the Bronx River Parkway.
"She was seen walking southbound on the southbound side of the parkway and there isn't a path there. It's kinda just a grassy area that's abutted by woods. So, we checked that area extensively yesterday. We're gonna do it again today," Bonci told WCBS 880's Sean Adams.
Helping in the search were canines, ATVs, and a helicopter.
Cotter's daughter, Mary, was probing the underbrush along the Bronx River Parkway near her apartment in Eastchester because she said she could not think of what else to do, CBS 2's Lou Young reported.
"She's blind in the left eye; has a cataract in the right. I can't imagine how she made it this far without falling over," Mary told Young.
Cotter's daughter said she tried mightily to deal with her mother's dementia without sending her to an institution. As time wears on, however, the family said it will get more worried about both mother and daughter.
"She wanted her at home where she could move around and not be drugged and restrained in some sort of way. They had a lock up high where she couldn't reach so she probably got on a chair and opened it," said Cotter's daughter-in-law, Kathryn.
Cotter was last seen wearing a khaki baseball cap, grey pants, red sweater, tan casual shoes and a tan hat.
Posters were put up in Yonkers and Inwood, where Catherine Cotter lived decades ago, on the theory she may have gone back there.
Police ended their search of the woods about mid-afternoon Thursday and then were working the train stations along Metro-North in the hope she left the area safely.
"We're going on a long period of time now, so we're really getting concerned," Bonci added.
Anyone with any information is asked to please contact the Eastchester Police Department at 914-961-3464. Callers may remain anonymous.
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