A 92-year-old man and his 86-year-old wife, who suffers from dementia, were found safe in South Carolina Wednesday afternoon after a statewide Silver Alert sent police searching for their red 2013 Jeep Wrangler. Victor Manuel Pajaro and Guadalupe Martinez Pajaro had last been seen near Fairfield Drive in Gastonia, and Victor was last heard from on Monday before the couple disappeared.
The Gastonia Police Department announced the safe recovery in a Facebook post, according to the Gastonia Police Department, which had earlier asked the public for help locating the pair after their family reported them missing. The Silver Alert has since been cancelled. As reported by WCNC Charlotte, the alert was activated specifically because Guadalupe suffers from cognitive impairment and dementia, a medical detail that explains why authorities escalated the search to a statewide emergency broadcast.
How Investigators Tracked the Couple's Jeep
Before the couple was located in South Carolina, their Jeep Wrangler, bearing North Carolina license plate BLY1967, was spotted on an automated Flock license plate reader camera in Charlotte, according to the same WCNC Charlotte report. Those camera systems automatically cross-reference passing vehicle tags with state and national law enforcement databases, sending real-time alerts to local departments when a vehicle tied to an active Silver or AMBER Alert passes by, per the Gastonia Police Department's account of its Real Time Crime Center technology.
The detection in Charlotte gave investigators a critical lead on the couple's direction of travel out of Gastonia. Gastonia sits roughly 25 to 30 miles north of the South Carolina state line, making it easy for a disoriented driver to cross state borders quickly, according to Rome2Rio route data. That proximity likely explains how the couple ended up out of state so soon after vanishing from their neighborhood near Fairfield Drive.
The Legal Framework Behind Silver Alerts
North Carolina's Silver Alert System, established under General Statute § 143B-499.8 by the General Assembly in 2007, is operated by the N.C. Center for Missing Persons to rapidly broadcast information about missing individuals of any age who suffer from dementia or cognitive impairment, according to Justia Law. Local agencies like the Gastonia Police Department cannot issue statewide alerts on their own; they must first complete a missing person report and verify qualifications before submitting paperwork to the state center, which holds sole authority to activate the alert, per the North Carolina Association of Broadcasters.
Cases like this one are not uncommon across the state. The N.C. Center for Missing Persons recorded 288 Silver Alerts statewide in 2025, with 38 of those missing individuals ultimately located outside North Carolina. Total missing person reports in the state reached 13,195 in 2025, including 5,292 adults and 7,903 juveniles, a decline from 14,451 reports the year before.
Gaston County's Aging Population
The case also highlights a broader demographic reality in Gaston County, where seniors aged 65 and older make up approximately 15.5% of the total population, according to county health data. An estimated 11.1% of that senior population, roughly 4,200 residents, live with Alzheimer's disease, per data compiled by Stacker, ranking Gaston County 55th out of 100 North Carolina counties in Alzheimer's prevalence among older adults.
Anyone with information related to the case is still asked to contact the Gastonia Police Department at 704-866-6702. Open questions remain about exactly where in South Carolina the couple was found, their physical condition upon discovery, and what arrangements family members or local authorities may put in place going forward.
