Memphis Police issued a Silver Alert on Saturday for Walter McKinney, a 73-year-old man who was last seen at Methodist University Hospital in Memphis. Officials describe McKinney as a black male standing 6 feet 1 inch tall and weighing 185 pounds, with gray hair and brown eyes. He was last seen wearing a camouflage hat, a blue t-shirt, blue jeans, and black shoes, according to the alert.
The alert, first shared in a post from the Bartlett Police Department on Facebook, lists McKinney's NCIC number as M269030442 and notes that the Memphis Police Department is handling the missing-person case. Methodist University Hospital, where McKinney was last seen, is a 617-bed acute care teaching facility at 1265 Union Avenue in Midtown Memphis and serves as the principal adult private teaching hospital for the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, according to the UTHSC Department of Surgery. The hospital sits along busy Midtown transit routes and commercial corridors, which could complicate efforts to track his path on foot.
Anyone with information on McKinney's whereabouts is asked to contact the Memphis Police Department at 901-636-4447 or the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation's 24-hour hotline at 1-800-TBI-FIND. It remains unclear whether McKinney left the hospital on foot or in a vehicle, what specific medical condition prompted the alert, or which direction he may have traveled from Midtown Memphis, according to the research surrounding the case.
Why Tennessee Issues Silver Alerts
Tennessee's Silver Alert program is authorized under Tennessee Code § 38-6-121, which allows statewide missing-person alerts for adults age 60 or older, people with documented dementia, or adults 18 and older with intellectual, developmental, or physical disabilities believed to be in imminent danger, per Justia Law. Before the state can broadcast an alert, local police must first establish that a missing adult meets those legal vulnerability standards. State guidelines also require local departments to enter a missing vulnerable adult report into the FBI's National Crime Information Center database before the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation can issue a statewide Silver Alert.
Tennessee first enacted Silver Alert legislation in August 2009, becoming the ninth state in the nation to do so, and later overhauled the system in May 2021 under Public Chapter 350 to centralize oversight under the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, according to Elder Care Law of Tennessee. Early efforts were limited by budget constraints before the statutory updates standardized the protocol statewide. In February 2026, the agency reported that its Silver Alert program, run in partnership with Alzheimer's Tennessee, had helped safely locate and return home more than 500 missing individuals since it began.
Tools Police Can Use to Track a Missing Vulnerable Adult
Memphis and Shelby County law enforcement have access to roughly 600 Flock Safety automated license plate reader cameras, which are integrated with missing-person databases so officers are automatically alerted if a vehicle tied to an active Silver Alert is detected on the road. The technology could prove useful if McKinney obtained access to a car, though it remains unknown whether he is traveling by vehicle or on foot.
In January 2025, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation also launched the TBI Find mobile app and the SafeSeniorTN.com web portal, giving the public real-time Silver Alert notifications and letting families build digital CareKits with medical information and photos ahead of time. Nationally, roughly 60 percent of people living with dementia or cognitive impairments will wander away from home or a care facility at least once during their illness, according to the Alzheimer's Association, underscoring why quick public reporting matters in the earliest hours of a disappearance.
Recent Silver Alerts Across Tennessee
McKinney's case is one of several active Silver Alerts issued across Tennessee in recent days. Memphis Police issued a similar alert earlier this week for Kenneth Howell, 69, last seen Tuesday, while a separate alert sought Nashville resident Kareem Muhammad, 54, also missing since Tuesday. Just over a week ago, a 73-year-old Germantown grandmother who had gone missing in Memphis was found safe following a Silver Alert, a reminder that these cases can end with a family reunited.
Anyone with information about Walter McKinney's whereabouts should call the Memphis Police Department at 901-636-4447 or the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation's hotline at 1-800-TBI-FIND.
