A 71-year-old Sumner man who vanished while driving through the Puyallup River Valley was found safe Tuesday afternoon, roughly 24 hours after he was last seen behind the wheel of his maroon Honda CR-V. Frederick Douglas was located just before 4:43 pm Tuesday, capping a search that began when he was last seen the day before, around 4 pm, heading west on River Road East from 20th Street in Puyallup.
The Washington State Patrol had issued a Silver Alert on behalf of the Sumner Police Department after Douglas's disappearance was described as a credible threat to his health and safety, according to The News Tribune. Douglas is described as roughly 5 feet 10 inches tall, about 230 pounds, with gray hair and brown eyes, and he was last seen wearing a teal Mariners hat, a blue Seahawks coat, light blue pants and light gray shoes. His vehicle, a 2018 maroon Honda CR-V bearing license plate CBN8786, became a key detail investigators asked the public to watch for as officers worked to bring him home safely.
Silver Alerts like the one issued for Douglas operate differently than the AMBER Alerts many Washington residents are used to. Unlike AMBER Alerts, Washington's Silver Alerts do not trigger mandatory Wireless Emergency Alert phone alarms or interrupt television and radio broadcasts, relying instead on electronic highway reader boards, email listservs, social media, and law enforcement networks, per Hoodline's own past coverage. That is why many Puyallup and Sumner residents did not receive an automatic buzz on their phones even as police pressed for tips.
Why Police Moved Fast on the Search
Washington established its Silver Alert system in 2015 under RCW 13.60.010 as a designation within the state's Endangered Missing Person Advisory framework, allowing law enforcement to request public alerts when a person 60 or older with a cognitive impairment goes missing, according to the Courier-Herald. Legislative findings tied to that statute note that nearly 60 percent of individuals living with dementia wander away from care at least once, and that up to half of those missing more than 24 hours face serious injury or death, KING 5 News has reported. That grim statistic helps explain why officers treated Douglas's disappearance with such urgency once the window stretched toward a full day.
Once a Silver Alert is requested, local departments activating it are required to immediately enter the missing person's details into both the Washington Crime Information Center and National Crime Information Center databases, ensuring officers well beyond Sumner and Puyallup could instantly recognize Douglas or his vehicle. The Washington State Patrol's Missing Children and Endangered Person Clearinghouse oversees four distinct alert types — AMBER Alerts, Endangered Missing Person Advisories, Silver Alerts, and Missing Indigenous Person Alerts — and maintains the listservs and highway messaging systems used to spread the word.
A Well-Traveled Corridor Through the Valley
Douglas was last seen heading west on River Road East, also designated State Route 167, which serves as a primary, heavily traveled arterial corridor connecting Puyallup with Fife, Tacoma, and northern Pierce County along the Puyallup River Valley, according to the Washington State Department of Transportation. That heavy commuter and truck traffic can complicate searches for a single vehicle, even one as distinctive as a maroon Honda CR-V.
The alert included the CR-V's license plate, giving the public a specific detail to watch for as the search unfolded.
Part of a Recurring Regional Pattern
Hoodline has covered a Tacoma man's disappearance along Waller Road earlier this month. Cognitive wandering remains a public safety concern for local departments.
Statewide numbers suggest these searches, while urgent, tend to end well. In the first 11 months of 2022, the Washington State Patrol coordinated 47 Silver Alerts out of 77 total missing person advisories statewide, with an overall recovery rate above 90 percent across all alert categories, according to Mason County News. Douglas's safe recovery Tuesday adds to that track record, coming about a day after he was last seen and roughly in line with the urgency police assigned to the case from the start.
Police had asked the public to call 911 if they spotted Douglas or his vehicle; Douglas was located Tuesday afternoon.
