A statewide Silver Alert is active for 53-year-old Gary Roberts II of Noblesville, who was last seen in downtown Indianapolis at 2 a.m. on September 4 wearing a multicolored hospital gown, blue scrub pants, and blue-and-white shoes. Authorities describe him as being in extreme danger and possibly in need of medical assistance.
The alert was issued Wednesday, nearly a week after Roberts was last seen, according to WISH-TV. He is described as a white man with gray hair, brown eyes, a height of 5 feet 8 inches, and a weight of 173 pounds. He also has a dragon tattoo on one forearm, per the same report.
Why IU Health Is Leading the Search
The case is being coordinated by the Indiana University Health Department of Public Safety rather than a municipal police department, reflecting the hospital-linked circumstances of Roberts' disappearance. IU Health's public safety division manages law enforcement and security operations across the health system's facilities, including IU Health Methodist Hospital in downtown Indianapolis, according to the Indianapolis Business Journal, making it the agency initially coordinating missing inpatient cases in that part of the city.
Roberts' home community of Noblesville, the county seat of Hamilton County, sits roughly 23 miles north of downtown Indianapolis, where he was last seen, according to the Indiana Silver Alert program. An earlier version of the alert had identified him as being from Noblesville, the station's report notes.
The Legal Threshold for a Silver Alert
Indiana law sets specific criteria for when a missing adult qualifies for a statewide Silver Alert. Under Indiana Code § 12-7-2-131.3, an adult 18 or older can be classified as a “missing endangered adult” eligible for an alert if they are reported missing and believed incapable of returning home without assistance due to mental illness, intellectual disability, dementia, or another physical or mental incapacity, per the state's Silver Alert legislation page.
Separately, Indiana Code § 5-2-17-1 categorizes people who are missing and in need of immediate medical attention or prescription medication as “high risk missing persons,” a designation that authorizes state emergency alert protocols, according to Indiana statute. The state clearinghouse also maintains agreements with electronic billboard operators to display active Silver Alert details across major roads under Indiana Code § 10-13-5-8.1, while participating radio and television stations that broadcast alert details directly from the Indiana AMBER and Silver Alert Center receive civil immunity under Indiana Code § 10-13-5-8.5.
How Often These Alerts End Safely
State data suggests most Silver Alerts end with the missing person found alive. Through August 9, 2026, Indiana had received 51 Silver Alert requests and activated 32 statewide alerts for the year, resulting in 30 people located safe and two found deceased, according to Indiana State Police Clearinghouse statistics. In 2025, the clearinghouse recorded 100 requests and 67 activated alerts, leading to 63 people found safe and four found deceased.
The volume of missing person cases in Indiana extends well beyond Silver Alerts. In 2024, Indiana State Police reported that the state clearinghouse database maintained records on more than 1,100 active missing persons cases statewide, a figure Hoodline noted in its coverage of a missing Richmond man earlier this month.
How to Report Information
Anyone with information on Roberts' whereabouts is asked to call 911 or the Indiana University Health Department of Public Safety at 317-962-8000. Tips can also be directed to Crime Stoppers of Central Indiana at 317-262-8477 or the IMPD Missing Persons Unit at 317-327-6160, according to FOX59.
Roberts' case follows a string of recent Indiana Silver Alerts this month, including one for a missing Charlestown teen and another for a missing New Albany woman believed to need immediate medical attention, both covered previously by Hoodline.
