An 84-year-old San Jose woman who vanished on foot near the Great Mall in Milpitas has been found safe and will be reunited with her family, according to police. Fe Umali had left without her family, had no cellphone with her, and had not returned home when the search began — details that pushed officers to classify her case as urgent from the start.
The Milpitas Police Department had identified Umali as a missing person at risk due to her age, a designation that triggers elevated search protocols under state law. She was last seen at the Great Mall, was described as standing 5 feet 3 inches tall and weighing 115 pounds, with grayish brown hair and brown eyes, and was wearing a black and white striped hooded sweater, dark-colored jeans and black slippers. Police also noted she has conditions requiring medication and relies on public transportation to get around.
Why Police Moved Fast on an At-Risk Case
Under California Penal Code § 14215, someone is legally classified as an at-risk missing person if they require medical attention, are mentally or physically impaired, are suspected victims of foul play, or are found to be missing outside their normal behavioral pattern. That status is designed to trigger rapid public appeals rather than the delays that can accompany routine missing person reports. California law also bars police agencies from imposing any mandatory waiting period before accepting and investigating a missing person report, per the California State University Police Department, meaning officers can act immediately regardless of the person's age or circumstances.
That urgency lines up with what medical researchers know about wandering behavior among older adults. The Alzheimer's Association notes that roughly 60% of people living with dementia or Alzheimer's disease will wander from safe environments or caregivers at least once during their illness, often repeatedly. Research from the University of Florida Health further found that while 82.3% of memory-impaired wanderers are located within 12 hours, up to 46% face severe injury or death if they are not found within 24 hours — a statistic that underscores why quick public notification matters in cases like this one.
A Search Shaped by the Great Mall's Transit Links
Umali's last known location, the Great Mall, sits at a transit crossroads that could have carried her well beyond Milpitas. The mall connects directly via pedestrian bridge to the VTA Light Rail Orange Line station, which links to routes across Santa Clara County and to the nearby Milpitas BART Station. Because she is known to use public transportation, that connectivity could have significantly widened the area investigators needed to search.
Milpitas residents can also sign up for AlertSCC, Santa Clara County's Everbridge-powered emergency notification system that lets local police and fire officials push urgent missing person warnings straight to phones and landlines, according to the City of Milpitas. Statewide, the California Highway Patrol can issue Silver Alerts for at-risk individuals 65 or older or who are cognitively impaired, using freeway message signs, media broadcasts and digital flyers when criteria are met, a framework established under Government Code § 8594.10.
Part of a Broader Pattern in Santa Clara County
Missing adult cases are not rare in the county. The California Department of Justice's Missing Persons System recorded 1,743 reports of missing adults in Santa Clara County during 2023 alone. Milpitas police have handled similar searches before, including a November 2024 appeal for an 85-year-old man missing from Flume Court, per Hoodline. Just weeks ago, a Silver Alert search for an at-risk man in neighboring East San Jose also drew citywide attention, and a missing San Jose teen was found safe last week after a five-county alert.
Umali's disappearance also arrives against a backdrop of economic strain for the county's older residents. A demographic snapshot from Justice in Aging found that approximately 32% of adults aged 65 and older in Santa Clara County lack sufficient income to cover basic living expenses under the California Elder Economic Security Index, a gap that can heighten reliance on community safety networks when something goes wrong.
Police had asked anyone who spotted Umali to call 911 immediately or reach the Milpitas Police Department at 408-586-2400. With Umali now located, officers say she will be reunited with her family, though details of exactly where she was found and how the search concluded have not been released.
