A 91-year-old Weddington woman who walked away from her Huntington Creek Road home overnight has been found safe, according to the Union County Sheriff's Office. Joan Bucaria, who has cognitive issues, was last seen at her residence around 9:30 p.m. before leaving on foot, prompting a statewide Silver Alert and an urgent community search.
Search Began After Overnight Disappearance
The Union County Sheriff's Office had requested the public's help locating Bucaria, describing her as approximately 4 feet 11 inches tall and wearing a black shirt with multicolored flowers and black pants. Deputies said she was suspected to have left her home on foot sometime during the night, and they asked the community to stay alert and report any information that might help find her. As reported by WCNC, the disappearance was centered on the 400 block of Huntington Creek Road in Weddington, and the North Carolina Center for Missing Persons issued a formal Silver Alert after the sheriff's office reported her missing.
By Wednesday morning, the sheriff's office confirmed Bucaria had been located and was safe, thanking the public for sharing the alert. The agency had also asked residents to share the original post to help bring her home safely, a request that circulated widely before the update came through.
How North Carolina's Silver Alert System Works
North Carolina's Silver Alert system exists specifically for cases like this one. The program was established by the General Assembly to provide statewide rapid dissemination of information about missing people believed to suffer from dementia or other cognitive impairments, a legal framework detailed by law reference site Justia Law. Effective July 2025, the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation raised the qualifying age for Silver Alerts from 50 to 65, with individuals required to be reported missing within 72 hours and considered in danger of harm.
State data help explain why deputies and the alert system moved quickly. The North Carolina Center for Missing Persons recorded 288 Silver Alerts statewide in 2025, with 167 of those cases involving people who had wandered away from private residences. Of those 288 alerts, 58 people were located directly as a result of the alert itself, while 11 were recovered deceased, according to the center's data.
Weddington's Aging Population and the Risk of Wandering
Weddington is a relatively affluent Union County suburb with a population of roughly 13,805 and a median resident age of 43.3 as of 2025, per demographic data from Point2Homes. But planning records from the Town of Weddington have projected Union County's senior population aged 65 and older to exceed 50,000, with roughly 87% of local seniors expressing a desire to age in place in their own homes rather than move into assisted care.
That preference carries real risk. Research published by senior care organization Sinceri Senior Living estimates that about 60% of people diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease or dementia will wander away from home at least once during their illness. The same research notes that roughly half of missing seniors with dementia who aren't located within 24 hours suffer severe injury or death, underscoring why law enforcement treats these reports as immediate emergencies rather than routine missing-person cases.
Bucaria's case is not the only recent search for a missing person in Union County. Hoodline previously covered a Monroe search for Cquila Singleton in March, another case that drew on the same local law enforcement jurisdiction. For now, the sheriff's office has confirmed only that Bucaria is safe, and no further details about where or how she was found have been released.
