A Silver Alert is active for 77-year-old Jose Macias, whose last-seen location was near Brightman Avenue and Turner Street in Lake Elsinore.
The alert was posted by CHP - Alerts
, the California Highway Patrol account that disseminates details and flyers for active statewide alerts, early Tuesday morning. The CHP post tagged the Riverside County Sheriff's Office. Anyone who sees him is urged to call 911 immediately.
This alert identifies Riverside County; alerts can be activated regionally rather than as blanket statewide alerts. Alerts are evaluated around the clock by uniformed staff at the California Highway Patrol's Emergency Notification and Tactical Alert Center in Sacramento, known as ENTAC, which pushes notifications through electronic flyers, highway message signs, and social media once a local agency's request is approved. Under California Government Code Section 8594.10, enacted via Senate Bill 1047 in 2012, local law enforcement can request a statewide Silver Alert for a missing person 65 or older, or for an adult with cognitive impairments, once local investigative options are exhausted and the person is believed to be in peril, according to FindLaw.
Where Macias Was Last Seen
Brightman Avenue and Turner Street are in the Lakeland Village Policy Area, according to the Riverside County Planning Department.
Why Officials Treat Wandering as an Emergency
Roughly 60 percent of elders with Alzheimer's occasionally wander away from home or caregivers, according to the Fisher Center for Alzheimer's Research Foundation. The center says wandering can occur at any stage and tends to occur more in early to mid-stage disease.
A Recurring Pattern Across Riverside County
This is not the first Silver Alert Riverside County authorities have requested in recent months. Hoodline previously reported on a Canyon Lake case last month in which the missing person was located. Silver Alerts are one of six specialized alert categories the CHP manages statewide, alongside Feather Alerts for missing Indigenous people and Ebony Alerts for missing Black youth; ENTAC coordinates the alert programs.
It remains unknown whether the Silver Alert for Macias has been broadcast beyond Riverside County into neighboring jurisdictions. For now, the Riverside County Sheriff's Office and CHP are asking anyone who spots Jose Macias to call 911 right away.
