Cleveland police have issued an endangered missing adult alert for 69-year-old Wilma White, who has not been seen since she walked away from her Coit Road residence at midnight on September 10 — a disappearance that stretched on for two weeks before the statewide alert went out. White has dementia, according to police, and investigators say they are concerned for her safety.
White is described as 5 feet 1 inch tall, weighing 160 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes, according to Cleveland 19 News. Anyone who sees her is asked to call the Cleveland Division of Police at (216) 623-5262. The City of Cleveland Division of Police lists the Fifth District station at East 152nd Street, per the City of Cleveland Division of Police.
The nearly two-week gap between White's disappearance and the alert's activation raises questions the station's report does not answer, since the case unfolded entirely within the window that medical researchers describe as critical for dementia patients who wander. A University of Florida study analyzing national Alzheimer's Association Safe Return data found that fewer than 4% of memory-impaired adults who wander away are able to return home unassisted, according to University of Florida Health.
Why the State's Alert System Moved So Slowly
Ohio's Endangered Missing Adult Alert can only be requested by local law enforcement and issued through the state Bureau of Criminal Investigation after police confirm the missing person is at least 65 or mentally impaired and faces a credible threat of immediate serious bodily harm or death, under Ohio Revised Code Section 5502.522, as explained by the Ohio Association of Broadcasters. That statutory bar is designed to reserve state emergency channels for verified life-threatening cases rather than routine disappearances, the broadcasters' association notes.
Unlike child AMBER Alerts, Ohio's adult alerts do not trigger Wireless Emergency Alert sirens on cellphones or override television and radio broadcasts. Instead, the alerts rely on text, email, social media, and local media distribution to spread the word, the same source explains — meaning news coverage and word-of-mouth sharing become essential tools for locating missing seniors like White across Cleveland's East Side.
Notably, Ohio's Joshua Alert took effect Sept. 17, ending the 24-hour wait before police must report a missing child with autism statewide, according to SpecialNeeds.com.
Wandering Is a Recognized Symptom, Not an Anomaly
Roughly 60% of people living with Alzheimer's disease or other forms of dementia will wander away from home or care environments at least once during their illness, according to research cited by the Fisher Center for Alzheimer's Research Foundation. Wandering is often triggered by disorientation or a desire to follow past routines, the foundation notes, framing White's disappearance as a recognized clinical pattern rather than an isolated event.
The stakes of prolonged searches are steep. National statistics compiled by the Alzheimer's Association indicate that up to 46% to 50% of wandering individuals with dementia risk serious injury or death if they are not located within 24 hours, according to the Morgan County Sheriff's Office. Exposure to the elements, traffic hazards, and dehydration significantly raise mortality risks after the first day, the office notes.
Statewide Numbers Show Alerts Usually Work
When Ohio's alert system is activated, it has a strong track record. Of 146 Endangered Missing Adult Alerts issued by the state Bureau of Criminal Investigation across 38 counties in 2022, all but one missing person was eventually located by police, identified by the public, or returned home on their own, according to a report from the Ohio Attorney General. The single unrecovered case that year involved a 72-year-old autistic man who disappeared on foot in Clermont County.
More broadly, the Ohio Attorney General's 2025 Missing Children Clearinghouse Annual Report recorded 19,930 total missing-person reports statewide in 2025, a decrease of 1,412 cases compared to the year before. The report compiles missing person records entered into state and national law enforcement databases.
Anyone with information on Wilma White's whereabouts is urged to contact Cleveland police at (216) 623-5262. White's case joins a string of recent Ohio searches for missing seniors with dementia, including a Cincinnati search for Michael White, a 76-year-old man reported missing in Avondale earlier this month.
