Deputies are asking Boynton Beach residents to keep an eye out for Brian Smisek, a 49-year-old man last seen walking away from an assisted living facility near Old Congress Road on Sunday evening. He is described as roughly 6 feet 2 inches tall, about 180 pounds, with gray hair and blue eyes.
The Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office made the appeal in a post from its official account, urging anyone with information about Smisek's whereabouts to come forward. According to PBSO, Smisek was last seen leaving the facility sometime during the evening of September 6. The agency, which handles law enforcement and missing person cases across unincorporated Palm Beach County and several contract municipalities, is directing tips to its 24/7 non-emergency dispatch line at 561-688-3400.
Old Congress Road cuts north-south through unincorporated Palm Beach County near the borders of Boynton Beach and Lantana, a stretch dotted with residential neighborhoods, commercial centers, and licensed care facilities, according to Elderlife Financial. PBSO has not said which specific facility reported Smisek's departure, and it remains unclear whether the agency has formally requested a state Purple Alert or Silver Alert tied to his case.
What The Law Requires When Someone Goes Missing
Florida law leaves no room for delay in cases like this. Under Florida Statute § 937.021, law enforcement agencies are barred from imposing any mandatory waiting period before accepting a missing person report, and must log the details into state and national crime databases within two hours of receipt, per the Florida Senate. That statute helps explain why PBSO moved quickly to put out a public appeal rather than waiting a day or more after Smisek was reported missing.
Florida also maintains two separate public alert systems for vulnerable missing adults, and which one might apply depends on Smisek's specific circumstances. The Purple Alert system, created under Florida Statute § 937.0205 in 2021, targets missing adults ages 18 to 59 with cognitive, intellectual, or developmental disabilities who do not meet Silver Alert criteria. The older Silver Alert program, established in 2008 and codified in 2011, requires local law enforcement to conduct a preliminary investigation, issue a statewide Be-On-the-Lookout bulletin, and coordinate local media alerts for missing impaired adults, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
Facility Oversight Rules For Elopement Cases
Assisted living facilities in Florida operate under specific statutory obligations meant to prevent residents from wandering off unsupervised. Florida Statute § 429.41 requires licensed facilities to establish resident elopement policies and conduct at least two formal elopement drills per year involving both administrative and direct care staff. Separately, Florida Administrative Code Rule 59A-36.007 allows facilities to grant residents general community access while still requiring them to notify family members and authorities if a resident elopes or faces a significant emergency, as outlined by the Legal Information Institute.
The stakes in these situations are significant. National medical research cited in the Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law found that more than 60 percent of individuals with cognitive impairments or dementia wander from their living quarters at least once, a pattern that creates elevated risks of injury or disorientation without assistance. Smisek's case joins a broader pool of cases the state tracks continuously; Florida Department of Law Enforcement data shows more than 3,200 individuals are registered as missing or endangered in state and national crime databases at any given time.
A Pattern Of Local Searches
Smisek's disappearance follows other recent missing person appeals PBSO has issued in the same corner of Palm Beach County. Hoodline previously reported on the search for Sara Gallagher, missing from nearby Lantana in late August, and on a November 2025 PBSO bulletin seeking help finding an 83-year-old woman with possible dementia who had walked away from a care setting. The agency's Missing Endangered Persons Information Clearinghouse, established in 1983 as the nation's first state-level missing persons clearinghouse, coordinates the state and national databases that support investigations like this one.
Anyone with information about Brian Smisek's whereabouts is asked to contact the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office. PBSO has not released additional details about the circumstances of his departure or the specific facility involved, and the investigation remains active.
