A statewide Silver Alert issued for a 70-year-old Wilson County woman ended safely Monday, with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation announcing hours later that Margaret Dove had been located. Dove was last seen Monday morning in Wilson County, and investigators said she may have been driving a silver 2013 Ford Edge with Tennessee license plate 477BQQB.
According to WZTV, the TBI said Dove was found safe and thanked the public for helping spread the word about her disappearance. The agency had said Dove has a medical condition that could impair her ability to return safely without assistance, which is what prompted the statewide alert earlier Monday.
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation described Dove as 5 feet 6 inches tall and weighing 149 pounds, with white hair and hazel eyes, when it issued the alert, according to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. Local reports from Wilson County had listed the sheriff's office as the point of contact for the case, working in coordination with the TBI's 24-hour hotline before the statewide broadcast went out, per the Wilson County Source.
How Tennessee's Silver Alert System Works
Tennessee law sets clear rules for when a Silver Alert can be requested. Under Tennessee Code § 38-6-121, law enforcement can seek an alert for a missing adult age 60 or older, or for any adult with a documented physical or cognitive impairment, if that person is believed to be in imminent danger and unable to return home without help, according to Justia Law. The same statute requires agencies to enter a missing vulnerable adult into the National Crime Information Center database within four hours of completing verification, according to FindLaw.
That rapid-response framework has a track record. Since Tennessee centralized its Silver Alert program under the TBI on July 1, 2021, the agency has issued more than 500 alerts with a recovery success rate exceeding 90 percent, according to WBIR Channel 10. The TBI Missing Persons Clearinghouse, which oversees Silver Alerts alongside AMBER and Endangered Child Alerts, was established in 1993 within the Tennessee Fusion Center, per the agency.
Why Speed Matters for Vulnerable Seniors
Wandering is a common and serious risk for older adults with cognitive impairment. About 60 percent of people living with Alzheimer's disease or dementia will wander away from home or a care facility at least once, according to the BrightFocus Foundation, citing Alzheimer's Association statistics. Research on missing dementia patients has found that 72 percent of those found alive are located within the first 24 hours, with survival odds dropping sharply once a search stretches past 48 hours, according to a report on senior wandering safety.
Wilson County's population skews increasingly older, adding local weight to those numbers. About 17.0 percent of the county's estimated 147,700 residents are age 65 or older, per U.S. Census Bureau data.
New Tools Aim to Speed Up Future Searches
The TBI has also been building out technology meant to shave critical minutes off future searches. In January 2025, the agency launched the TBI Find mobile app and SafeSeniorTN initiative, which includes a CareKit feature letting families pre-upload photos and medical profiles for instant dispatch to police during a missing person emergency, according to a TBI press release. Dove's case is one of several Silver Alerts issued across the state in recent weeks, following similar searches for missing adults in Memphis, Nashville, Clarksville and Chattanooga.
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