Long Island police officer finds missing man with dementia driving under highway sign displaying Silver Alert
FREEPORT, N.Y. — An alert Long Island police officer found a missing man with dementia in a fateful location Tuesday.
CBS News New York's Carolyn Gusoff spoke to the relieved family.
"I knew that I was lost"
Jose Rodriguez, 83, was recently diagnosed with dementia and couldn't find his way home Monday. He left the Lynbrook bakery where he works and headed to his Freeport home just 5 miles away.
"I knew that I was lost," Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez was driving for hours, lost without a cellphone. He managed to call his wife to say he was lost, and his distressed relatives tracked the call to a Roslyn gas station.
"The whole family was just, just distraught, thinking the worst, of course," niece France Pichardo said. "Myself and a few family members were out just looking ... to see if we could find him. We went to the gas station."
"Very sad. I was too much nervous," Rodriguez's wife said.
"She was suffering, and I was suffering, too," Rodriguez said.
His loved ones filed a missing persons report, which was instantly shared with other agencies.
Rodriguez said he got so tired trying to find his way home, he stopped at a hotel, but there were no rooms. He eventually fell asleep, then set out again in the morning.
"It was there telling the police officer, look, he is right there"
On Tuesday, over 14 hours after Rodriguez went missing, license plate readers pinged the his car.
Old Westbury Police Officer Thomas Gorman spotted it and followed as Rodriguez drove directly under a highway message board displaying the vehicle description from his Silver Alert.
"It was there telling the police officer, look, he is right there," Rodriguez's daughter-in-law Mariela Cruz said.
The relieved family was reunited at the police department, 17 miles from where Rodriguez started out.
"Sometimes it's very bad news, and this was an absolute heartwarming story to be able to reunite family members," Gorman said.
"Oh, very happy. Oh my God, my husband in my house," Rodriguez's wife said.
"Relieved and grateful, happy, because we don't want to start 2025 with a tragedy," Cruz said. "One hundred percent grateful for them."
The family says they will now take steps to keep Rodriguez safe as they celebrate a happy new year, the couple's 51st together, and more to come.
