Prince George's County Police have issued a Silver Alert for James Roger White, an 83-year-old man last seen Monday afternoon in the 15900 block of N. Thames Court in Accokeek. White was walking with a cane, wearing a blue t-shirt and jeans, before he was reported to have driven off in a gray 2007 Chevrolet Impala bearing Maryland tag 9HB1997.
The Silver Alert activation notice, issued on behalf of the Prince George's County Police Department, describes White as 6 feet tall and weighing 175 pounds. He was last seen around 4:15 p.m. Monday, and police are asking anyone who spots him to call 911 immediately. The alert falls under Maryland's statewide Silver Alert system, which, under Public Safety Code § 3-604, allows the Department of State Police to rapidly broadcast missing person notifications across dynamic highway signs and media networks whenever an adult with a cognitive impairment goes missing, according to Simpson Law.
Tipsters can also reach the department's Missing Persons Section directly at 301-772-8970, according to a Prince George's County Police Department blog post. Department policy, backed by Maryland law, sets no mandatory waiting period before a missing person report is treated as an active priority — a point the department has emphasized before, including in Hoodline's earlier coverage of a Suitland vanishing involving a driver missing in a Kia SUV.
A County With One of the Nation's Highest Alzheimer's Rates
White's disappearance lands in a county where cognitive impairment among older residents is unusually common. Prince George's County has a 16.1% Alzheimer's prevalence rate among residents 65 and older, ranking fourth highest of any county nationwide as of 2023, per research from the Alzheimer's Association. Statewide, 12.9% of Maryland residents 65 and older live with Alzheimer's disease as of 2024, placing Maryland among the highest-prevalence states in the country, according to The Washington Informer.
Those numbers help explain why cases like White's draw an immediate, coordinated public response. Research cited on Wikipedia's entry on the Silver Alert system indicates that roughly 60% of people diagnosed with dementia or cognitive impairment will wander away from care at least once, underscoring why rapid reporting and public tips matter so much in the hours after someone disappears.
Searching Accokeek's Roads and Shopping Corridors
Accokeek is an unincorporated community in southern Prince George's County that sits along MD Route 210, or Indian Head Highway, roughly 17 miles south of Washington, D.C., according to Wikipedia. The area is served by the county's PGC Link microtransit service, which runs along Route 210 down to Route 228, or Berry Road, connecting residents to hubs including the Accokeek Shopping Center and Manokeek Shopping Center, per Prince George's County.
Investigators have technological tools at their disposal as they work to locate White's gray Impala. The county police department operates a Real-Time Crime Center at its Upper Marlboro headquarters that integrates automated license plate reader networks and neighborhood camera registries to help track missing vehicles, according to state records reviewed by the Maryland State Archives. It remains unknown whether license plate readers along Route 210 or Route 228 have picked up any trace of White's car, and police have not disclosed his intended destination when he was last seen.
