A 79-year-old Gresham man who walked away from his home near SE 190th Avenue and SE Division Street early Friday morning has been found safe, according to police. Toan Nguyen had left his residence just before 10 a.m. wearing a white shirt and blue pants, prompting officers to ask the public for help tracking him down.
The update came Friday evening in a Facebook post from the Gresham Police Department, which confirmed simply that Nguyen had been found. The post did not detail where or when he was located, or in what condition, information that police bulletins on missing seniors typically withhold to protect personal privacy. Nguyen was described as 5 feet 9 inches tall and about 150 pounds at the time officers first sought the public's help.
How Gresham Police Coordinated the Search
Before Nguyen was found, the department had asked anyone who spotted him to call the region's non-emergency dispatch line at 503-823-3333, a number operated around the clock by the Portland Bureau of Emergency Communications, which handles calls for all of Multnomah County, including both Portland and Gresham. The Gresham Police Department, which oversaw the response, operates out of the city's Public Safety Building at 1333 NW Eastman Parkway. FlashAlert's public safety bulletin on the case included an attached missing-person flyer and photograph as part of the original request for public assistance, per Flashalert.net.
Oregon law sets a clear framework for how quickly agencies must act in cases like this. Under Oregon Revised Statute 181A.320, every municipal police department and county sheriff's office in the state is required to have written policies for investigating missing vulnerable adult cases as fast as possible using all available resources. Guidance from the Oregon Department of Emergency Management further clarifies that there is no mandatory waiting period before reporting a missing vulnerable adult, and agencies must enter that person into state and federal databases within 12 hours.
A Broader Pattern of Senior Wandering Cases
Nguyen's case echoes one Hoodline covered earlier this summer, when Gresham police sought public help finding 75-year-old Timothy Fook Keunglow, a man with dementia who had vanished without his walker or glasses. Days later, a search in neighboring Wood Village for a non-verbal 17-year-old with no phone underscored how East County agencies routinely coordinate across adjacent city borders when someone vulnerable goes missing.
The urgency behind these public appeals is backed by state-level infrastructure built for exactly this kind of emergency. In 2023, Oregon lawmakers passed House Bill 2764, establishing a statewide Endangered Missing Person Alert System run by the Oregon State Police in cooperation with broadcasters and local public safety agencies. The state's emergency management division also tracks search and rescue operations statewide, coordinating resources across more than 1,000 missions each year, according to the Oregon Department of Emergency Management.
National data helps explain why cases involving older adults with cognitive decline draw such swift police response. Citing Alzheimer's Association research, the MedicAlert Foundation notes that six in ten people living with dementia will wander away from home or caregivers at least once. For Gresham families, Friday's resolution offers relief, even as the department's brief update leaves the circumstances of Nguyen's recovery unstated.
