A 75-year-old woman went missing before dawn Friday near Littleton, and within hours a community member who saw the alert spotted her and called it in, leading deputies to find her safe. Debra Folino was last seen around 3:30 a.m. near West Glasgow Place and South Cody Street, wearing a black floral dress with a white shawl.
The Jefferson County Sheriff's Office had been searching for Folino before announcing the resolution, according to a Jefferson County Sheriff's Office post on Facebook. A community member recognized Folino after seeing the missing-person notification and called in information about her whereabouts, leading deputies to confirm she was safe. The sheriff's office had asked anyone with information to call 303-980-7300, a number that routes to Jeffcom 911.
A Neighborhood Built for This Kind of Search
The area where Folino was last seen, near West Glasgow Place and South Cody Street, sits in the Columbine West neighborhood of unincorporated Jefferson County, an established suburban pocket near Littleton made up mostly of single-family homes and townhouses dating to the late 1970s, according to Realtor.com. The 303-980-7300 line used during the search connects directly to Jeffcom 911, the consolidated dispatch center that handles police, fire, and medical calls for 28 agencies across Jefferson and Clear Creek counties and processes more than 700,000 calls a year.
Cases like Folino's are becoming more common as Jefferson County's population ages. U.S. Census Bureau data compiled by USAFacts shows about 109,000 county residents, or 18.8% of the total population, were 65 or older in 2024 — well above Colorado's statewide senior average of 16.5%. The Jefferson County Planning and Zoning Division projects that by 2040, nearly a quarter of the county's residents will be 65 or older, with almost 10% expected to be 80 or older.
Why Rapid Alerts Matter for Seniors With Dementia
More than 90,000 Coloradans aged 65 and older were living with Alzheimer's disease as of 2024, according to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, and officials say the true number is likely higher because the disease is widely underdiagnosed. The Alzheimer's Association estimates that roughly 60% of people living with Alzheimer's or other dementias will wander away from safety at least once, sometimes repeatedly, often triggered by disorientation or agitation even in familiar surroundings.
The stakes in these cases are steep. Research cited by the International Association for Indigenous Aging indicates that search efforts for missing adults with dementia operate under an urgent 24-hour window, with up to 90% of lost seniors facing severe injury or death if they aren't found within the first day. Colorado created its statewide Missing Senior Citizen Alert Program in 2006, run by the Colorado Bureau of Investigation with local law enforcement, to rapidly broadcast alerts through media and electronic highway signs when adults 60 or older face credible safety threats tied to cognitive impairment.
The Jefferson County Sheriff's Office also operates a Victim Services Unit staffed around the clock with crisis intervention advocates who assist families during traumatic events, including missing persons cases and elder welfare emergencies. Nationally, the Alzheimer's Association's 2026 Facts and Figures report estimates that 7.4 million Americans aged 65 and older are living with Alzheimer's dementia, with total U.S. healthcare and long-term care costs for the disease expected to reach $409 billion this year.
