A 69-year-old Roseville man has been missing since before dawn nearly two weeks ago, and the California Highway Patrol is now asking the public for help finding him. Kolin Morlatt was last seen around 3:29 a.m. on August 25 near the intersection of Industrial Avenue and Veterans Drive, a commercial and light industrial stretch of northern Roseville near the Rocklin border. He is believed to be traveling on foot.
The California Highway Patrol reported Morlatt missing to residents across Sacramento and Placer counties on behalf of the Roseville Police Department, according to FOX40. Morlatt is described as 5 feet 10 inches tall with gray hair and hazel eyes, and he is believed to be wearing a black shirt and jeans. CHP has asked anyone who spots him to call 9-1-1 immediately.
The specific intersection where Morlatt disappeared, Industrial Avenue and Veterans Drive, sits in an area that CHP alert notices describe as a commercial and light industrial zone, according to a CHP alert posted to Facebook. It remains unclear whether search efforts are focused on that industrial corridor, nearby natural areas, or both, and CHP has not disclosed whether Morlatt has any known medical or cognitive conditions that might affect his ability to find his way home.
How California's Silver Alert System Works
California's Silver Alert program dates back to 2012, when Senate Bill 1047 added Section 8594.10 to the state Government Code, creating a mechanism to broadcast emergency public alerts for missing adults 65 or older and cognitively impaired individuals considered at risk, per the California Highway Patrol. The law sets a strict threshold: CHP can only activate a Silver Alert once local police have exhausted their own resources, the disappearance appears unexplained or suspicious, and the missing person is believed to be in danger.
Those alerts are coordinated through CHP's Emergency Notification and Tactical Alert Center, known as ENTAC, which operates around the clock out of the agency's Sacramento headquarters as the state's designated hub for missing person alerts submitted by local agencies like Roseville PD. This is not the first time Roseville police have leaned on that statewide network. Last December, CHP activated a Silver Alert on behalf of Roseville police for 65-year-old Charles Young, who went missing from the Firestone Drive and Pebble Beach Court area, according to a report from Action Eye News.
A Regional Pattern in South Placer County
Missing senior cases have become a recurring challenge across South Placer County. In August, neighboring Rocklin handled two overnight searches within five days, including one for an 81-year-old man who was found safe after a seven-and-a-half-hour search near Secret Ravine Creek, a natural corridor that spans the Rocklin-Roseville border and complicates ground searches.
The demographic pressures behind these cases are only growing. Roughly 19 percent of Placer County residents are already 65 or older, a share county health officials project will climb to 27 percent by 2040, according to Placer County. Medical research cited on the topic estimates that about 60 percent of people living with Alzheimer's disease or cognitive impairment will wander away from safety at least once, underscoring why rapid alert deployment matters when an older adult goes missing on foot, per Wikipedia.
No Waiting Period to Report a Missing Adult
Families and neighbors should not assume they need to wait before contacting police about a missing at-risk adult. California Department of Justice policy prohibits agencies from imposing any waiting period before accepting a missing person report, and requires that missing adult cases take priority over property crimes. Prompt reporting matters because California Penal Code Section 14207 also requires departments to notify the state DOJ immediately once a missing person is found, so that active alert entries can be canceled within 24 hours and confusion is avoided once someone like Morlatt is located.
For now, Morlatt remains missing, and CHP is continuing to ask anyone in Sacramento or Placer counties who sees him near the Industrial Avenue and Veterans Drive area, or elsewhere, to call 9-1-1 right away.
