Dallas Police are asking for the public's help finding an 82-year-old man who vanished while driving near one of the city's busiest hospital campuses. John Owen Woodall was last seen at approximately 3:00 p.m. last Saturday in the 3500 block of Gaston Avenue, behind the wheel of a 2017 silver Toyota Tundra with Texas license plate MYX5366. Police say he may be in need of assistance.
The department shared Woodall's description and the appeal for tips in a post from the Dallas Police Department, describing him as a white male standing 5 feet 9 inches tall, weighing about 200 pounds, with brown eyes and a bald head. The case has been logged under reference number 116898-2026, a numbering system Dallas Police use to track tips and direct search efforts through detectives in the department's Youth and Family Services Division, according to WFAA. Anyone with information is asked to call 911 or (214) 671-4268.
***Critical Missing***
— Dallas Police Dept (@DallasPD) August 10, 2026
The Dallas Police Department is seeking the public’s assistance in locating a critical missing person.
John Owen Woodall is described as an 82-year-old White male with brown eyes and is bald. He is 5’09” tall and weighs approximately 200 lbs.
Mr. Woodall… pic.twitter.com/LVZIeTvJlG
The 3500 block of Gaston Avenue where Woodall was last seen sits on the campus of Baylor University Medical Center, a flagship Level I trauma center with more than 900 beds in East Dallas, according to Baylor Scott & White Health. It is unknown whether Woodall was receiving care at the hospital before he disappeared; that detail has not been addressed in police statements.
What a Critical Missing Designation Means
Dallas Police have not publicly labeled Woodall's case with a specific designation in their public appeal, but the department's standard protocol for cases involving elevated personal risk, medical needs, or diminished capacity is known as critical missing. That designation triggers an immediate 24-hour active field search rather than routine administrative handling, a procedure Hoodline outlined this past weekend in its coverage of a missing 15-year-old last seen near NorthPark Center. Dallas Police also relied on the same protocol earlier this week while searching for two children who vanished together near department headquarters.
No Texas Silver Alert has been reported for Woodall as of this writing. State law sets six specific criteria that must be met before a Silver Alert can be activated, including a requirement that the missing person be 65 or older with a physician-documented impaired mental condition, and that the alert be requested within 72 hours of the disappearance, per the Texas Department of Public Safety. It remains unknown whether those medical documentation requirements have been met in Woodall's case.
Why Vehicle Details Matter to Investigators
Because Woodall was driving at the time he disappeared, his case fits a pattern the Department of Public Safety accounts for in its alert system: electronic highway message signs are only activated during a Silver Alert when accurate vehicle details are confirmed and the missing senior was known to be driving. State Silver Alerts, when issued, are administered jointly by DPS and the Texas Division of Emergency Management, broadcasting warnings across law enforcement channels, news media, lottery terminals, and Texas Department of Transportation message boards, according to a breakdown of the program by NCT 9-1-1.
A study published in JAMA Network Open examining 524 Texas Silver Alert activations between 2017 and 2022 found the median age of missing adults with dementia was 77, and more than 60% of all alerts involved a missing vehicle, a data point Hoodline cited in its recent report on a Silver Alert issued for a 77-year-old San Antonio woman who was found safe within hours. Research highlighted by the Alzheimer's Association further indicates that about 60% of people with cognitive impairments will wander at least once in their lives, and that up to 46% of missing wanderers face serious injury or death if they are not located within the first 24 hours.
Local Precedent for Extended Searches
Dallas Police field investigations have continued in past cases even after any initial statewide alert lapsed without new leads. In June 2024, department investigators conducted a multi-week search for a missing 88-year-old woman, Myrtle Polk, demonstrating that local search efforts can extend well beyond the initial response window. The department has handled similar critical missing cases involving elderly drivers before, including a 2024 search for a 75-year-old man and a 2023 case involving a missing 98-year-old man who had also left in a vehicle, both of which ended in safe returns.
The Texas Silver Alert system itself was created in 2007 under House Bill 157 and was modeled on the AMBER Alert program, which was originally developed in the Dallas-Fort Worth area in 1996. As of Monday, Woodall's whereabouts remain unknown, and Dallas Police continue to ask anyone with information to come forward.
