The search for Ramon Brown, an elderly Dolores man suffering from dementia who walked away from the family home Sunday evening, has been suspended after an extensive four-day search that failed to come up with solid clues about his whereabouts.
Montezuma County Sheriff Steve Nowlin said his office will continue to review the case and checkout any clue that might indicate where Brown, 86, is located.
“We’ve been searching since Sunday evening. We’ve had help from the K-9 Search and Rescue Team out of Dolores and several K-9 teams from out of town that were here on training,” Nowlin said.
Numerous friends and family members assisted on the search. Tuesday, Nowlin sought assistance from fire agencies, and 39 firefighters from the Dolores, Cortez, Lewis-Arriola, Pleasant View, Mancos and Rico fire departments helped look for Brown.
Still, no clues were found.
Nowlin said a 1¾-mile radius has been examined around Brown’s home.
Brown is described as 5 feet, 2 inches tall and 120 pounds. He was last seen wearing a light blue shirt, gray slacks, black shoes and possibly a black baseball cap.
“We’re pretty much at wits’ end,” Nowlin said. “He is an at-risk elder with a medical condition. He is either down somewhere or left the area.”
Vicki Shaffer, incident commander with Montezuma County Search and Rescue, said, “Some search dogs showed some interest, but they weren’t strong responses, and when we followed them up, we were unable to find anything.”
Montezuma County Search and Rescue members began searching for Brown around 9:30 p.m. Sunday and continued with their hunt through Wednesday morning, Shaffer said.
She said the family searched for a while in Dolores on Sunday evening before alerting authorities.
Firefighters on Tuesday were able to assist the search with all-terrain vehicles and trucks, but they too failed to turn up a clue, Shaffer said.
Chuck Melvin with the K-9 Search & Rescue Team out of Dolores said two dogs from the team and more than 10 other K-9 units from around the country assisted.
K-9s from across the country were in Dolores for the Four Corners Search & Rescue Workshop and the teams volunteered to help with the search. Also, two instructors from Idaho and their two dogs and a instructor from Alaska, who was without a dog, assisted.
“It’s dry. We had dogs show some interest throughout, but nothing concrete,” Melvin said.
The dogs and handlers “are totally beat” and won’t be productive until they get some rest, he said.
“If we get new information, new leads or new clues, we’ll go out search, but as of now the search is suspended, said Shaffer. But these things aren’t really closed until people are located.”
