A 78-year-old man vanished from a residential block in Miami's Coral Way neighborhood late Monday night, and police are now asking the public for help finding him. Carlos Kervi Betancourt was last seen around 10 p.m. near 3321 SW 24th Terrace, wearing a brown shirt, black sweatpants with a white stripe down the side, and black sneakers.
The City of Miami Police Department's Special Victims Unit issued a missing person flyer Tuesday describing Betancourt as a white male, 6 feet tall, 180 pounds, with brown eyes and a bald head, according to Miami PD. The flyer, numbered 26-000 and approved by Sgt. Cotilla, lists the case number as 260825-0051902 and notes the area where Betancourt was last seen as Coral Way. Anyone with information is asked to contact Detective J. Diaz or any on-duty Special Victims Unit detective at 305-603-6300, or the department's alternate line at 305-579-6111. Miami Police also noted that the account issuing the alert is not monitored around the clock, directing anyone facing an emergency to call 911.
A Historic Pocket of Miami Now the Center of a Search
The address where Betancourt disappeared sits in Silver Bluff, a residential enclave within the broader Coral Way corridor roughly a mile west of Brickell and Downtown Miami. According to NeighborhoodScout, the neighborhood dates to the 1920s and is known for tree-lined streets, historic single-family homes, and a high concentration of long-term residents. It's the kind of quiet, established block where a missing 78-year-old resident is likely to be noticed quickly by neighbors, which is part of why police are counting on tips from the community.
It is the same general area where Hoodline previously reported that a 71-year-old man went missing from Coral Way last year before being found safely, and where a 19-year-old was later located after vanishing in the same area. Whether Betancourt's case will resolve the same way remains unknown, and police have not said whether he has any diagnosed cognitive condition that might be a factor in his disappearance.
Why Miami Handles These Cases So Fast
Florida law requires police departments to accept missing person reports immediately, without any waiting period, and to enter details into state and national crime databases within two hours of receipt, per the Florida Senate. That statutory mandate helps explain how quickly the Special Victims Unit was able to circulate Betancourt's flyer and case number to the public. Because Betancourt was on foot rather than in a vehicle, his case falls under Florida's Local Silver Alert framework, which allows municipal departments to push BOLO bulletins and media releases for missing seniors 60 and older rather than triggering the overhead highway signs reserved for missing motorists with an identified license plate, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
South Florida's demographics make these searches a recurring reality for local police. Miami-Dade County has the highest Alzheimer's disease prevalence among seniors 65 and older of any large county in the country, at 16.6 percent, according to a landmark study from the Alzheimer's Association. Local public health data from the Miami Dementia Care and Cure Initiative similarly shows more than 65,000 county residents 65 and older living with probable Alzheimer's or a related dementia, about 13 percent of the local senior population. That backdrop is part of why local task forces coordinate closely with law enforcement during searches involving older adults, though the dossier does not confirm whether Betancourt's disappearance involves any memory-related diagnosis.
Public Tips Have a Track Record in Florida
State officials have pointed to the effectiveness of these alerts in the past. Florida's Silver Alert program led directly to the safe recovery of at least 248 missing seniors between its 2008 launch and late 2021, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. If Betancourt is not located quickly, state law also lays out escalating steps for long-term missing adult investigations, including a requirement that police attempt to obtain a biological sample for a national DNA database if someone remains missing beyond 90 days.
Betancourt's case is the latest in a string of missing adult searches Miami Police have run in recent weeks, following bulletins for a missing 61-year-old woman from Flagami and an 84-year-old man from the Fontainebleau area. For now, detectives are relying on the same tools used in those cases: a case number, a flyer, and direct phone lines meant to get tips to searchers as quickly as possible. Anyone with information on Betancourt's whereabouts is urged to call Detective J. Diaz or any on-duty Special Victims Unit detective at 305-603-6300.
-4.webp?w=160&h=400&fit=crop&crop=edges)
