A 74-year-old Portland man recently diagnosed with dementia has been found safe after walking away from his Pleasant Valley home without his cellphone, capping a search that began Monday and ended Tuesday. Petr Kutyrev was reunited with his family, bringing relief to a case that had drawn a public appeal from Portland police.
Kutyrev was last seen at his home in the 12700 block of Southeast Lydia Court on the morning of Monday, September 28, according to KPTV. He reportedly left on foot and did not take his phone with him, and his family told the station he had recently been diagnosed with dementia. KPTV reported that the Portland Police Bureau said the man had been reported missing on Tuesday and was found safe that same day, though KATU reported the missing-persons report was filed Monday, September 28 — the accounts differ on the exact date the report was made.
KATU reported in an update that Kutyrev was found safe Tuesday, September 29, a day after he was reported missing. He is described as about 5-foot-6 and roughly 220 pounds, and was last seen wearing a black baseball cap, a black or blue jacket, jeans, and blue and white sneakers. His family said he speaks some English but primarily communicates in Russian.
A Missing-Person Appeal
The case, logged under missing-person report number 26-283973, had prompted Portland police to ask the public for help finding Kutyrev before word came that he had been located and reunited with his family. Anyone who spots a missing person matching such a description is asked to call 911, while non-time-sensitive information can be sent to the Portland Police Bureau's Missing Persons Unit at [email protected], according to the same katu.com report.
Cases like Kutyrev's are far from rare. The Alzheimer's Association notes that six in 10 people living with dementia will wander at least once, and that everyone living with Alzheimer's or another form of dementia is at risk of wandering, according to the Alzheimer's Association. The organization warns that such wandering can be dangerous, even life-threatening, for the person involved.
Similar Cases Around Oregon
Portland's search for Kutyrev echoes other recent cases involving vulnerable adults who wander from home. In one instance, Oregon City police asked for the public's help locating a 93-year-old man with dementia who had left home on a Saturday morning and had not yet been found, according to NBC16. The pattern underscores why local police departments treat reports of missing adults with cognitive impairments as urgent matters requiring quick public notification.
For now, Kutyrev's case has a resolution his family had been hoping for. Portland police had issued a public appeal during the search, and the update that he had been found safe and reunited with his family closed out a tense period for those who knew him.
