Family, Friends Hold Vigil Hoping For Missing Man's Safe Return
NORTH BETHLEHEM TOWNSHIP (KDKA) – A $3,000 reward is now being offered for information leading to the whereabouts of an elderly man who went missing earlier this month from Washington County.
Sixteen days after his disappearance, all family, friends and community members of 90-year-old George Pochiba can do is come together.
The North Bethlehem Township man told his wife on June 10 that he was going to feed the horses when he left his Crescent Road home and never came home.
"We're praying and we still believe that he will come home to us," Karen Pochiba, George's wife, said.
With their faith and sense of community, they've physically joined in the search with police to find him.
"We've been on the roads, in the woods, everything; knee high in creeks, everything just looking for this guy," Shianne Scott, a family friend, said.
Lifelong neighbors organized a candlelight vigil Thursday. It's not for a time of sorrow, but as a symbol of hope.
"He's just a wonderful man," Natalie Naser, a co-organizer of the event, said. "We used to come and talk to him all the time and it just breaks our hearts that he's missing and can't be found anywhere."
Pochiba suffers from dementia, but is still physically active for his 90 years. His daughter says she and the rest of her family hold out for the moment their fighter will return.
"He is a survivor," Neva Neizmik, Pochiba's daughter, said. "He's always been a survivor, independent and determined, and that's why I'm still hopeful he's alive."
RELATED LINKS:
Police Searching For Missing Elderly Washington Co. Man (6/11/14)
More Washington County News
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