A Silver Alert issued for a missing 70-year-old Houston man has been cancelled after he was located safe. Wayne Crawford had been the subject of a search since he was last seen on foot earlier this week, prompting an alert from the Texas Center for the Missing on behalf of the Houston Police Department.
The update came Wednesday from TX Center 4 Missing
, the Houston-based organization that posted on X that Crawford had been found. “Update: Located safe. The Silver Alert has been cancelled,” the group wrote. The Texas Center for the Missing describes its mission as bringing “hope and healing to missing people and their families,” and it had issued the alert for Crawford on behalf of the Houston Police Department.
How the Search Began
Crawford was last seen on foot at 4900 Culmore Drive in Houston, wearing a gray hat, gray jacket, and blue jeans, according to the organization's original alert. The Silver Alert was issued the following day, identifying him as a 70-year-old man believed to be at risk. Authorities had asked anyone with information to call the Houston Police Department at 832-394-1840, though that request is now moot following Crawford's safe recovery.
Texas's Silver Alert system, which allows law enforcement to broadcast information about missing older adults believed to be in danger, was created by state legislation in 2007, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety. The program is designed to mobilize the public quickly when an at-risk adult goes missing, relying on alerts shared through media, highway signs, and now social media to help bring people home.
A Similar Outcome Earlier This Year
Crawford's case echoes another Houston-area Silver Alert resolved safely earlier this year. In April, a Houston Regional Silver Alert was issued for 68-year-old Thanh Phong Ly, who was last seen walking in the 7100 block of Eichler Drive in Southwest Houston wearing a gray short-sleeve shirt and blue jeans, as reported by Click2Houston. That alert was also cancelled after Ly was found safe, with the Texas Center for the Missing confirming the news at the time.
No further details have been released about where or when Crawford was ultimately located, and no additional information from the Houston Police Department has been made public about the circumstances surrounding the case. For now, the cancellation of the Silver Alert stands as the latest confirmation that Crawford is safe.
