A South Charleston man who suffers from dementia has been missing for more than a year.
Elbert Keith Hall, 69, was last seen walking out of his Lincoln Drive home on Jan. 22, 2015.
His daughter, Eugenia Campbell, just wants closure. She burst into tears talking about her father's disappearance last week.
"It breaks my heart," she said. "I cry every day."
Campbell, of Charleston, is angry, too.
"I think the cops said, 'Hell with my dad,'" she said.
South Charleston Sgt. P.C. Rader took offense at the notion police aren't working hard enough.
He says that detectives couldn't even get started on the case until a Monday, after it was reported on the weekend, a day after Hall went missing. The patrol division handled it before then. Campbell disputes that, saying that the disappearance was reported the same day.
"From that point forward, we did everything that I feel possibly could have been done at the time and even on further as the year went on," Rader said.
Detectives hit an obstacle when bloodhounds couldn't pick up Hall's scent.
But Rader said they still spent all of their time on the case for weeks. They put out a Silver Alert. They searched the places Hall normally frequented, checked surveillance video, looked near his home and bus routes and contacted cab companies. Officers would also check places after people called and said they thought they saw Hall.
Rader acknowledged that at this point, Hall is likely deceased. They put his dental records and X-rays into a national database, so that his body can be identified if it's found.
He also said the case is still active. Next, they plan to use search and rescue cadaver dogs to search in the area near Hall's home.
"It's almost as if he vanished into thin air," Rader said.
The Alzheimer's Association estimated that in 2015, 36,000 people in West Virginia had Alzheimer's, the most common form of dementia. The association says that about six in 10 of them will wander.
According the 2012 West Virginia Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System Report, 6.2 percent of West Virginia adults, equal to 89,615 people, experience cognitive impairment, defined as confusion or memory loss that is happening more often or is getting worse.
Staff at the Alzheimer's Association of West Virginia advise caregivers to contact them about purchasing bracelets with the elderly person's identifying information and a phone number to call if he or she is found, or GPS clips that the elderly person can wear on his or her clothing or place in a purse.
The Kanawha County Sheriff's Office program Project Lifesaver has provided GPS bracelets to county residents in the past as well, but Sgt. Brian Humphreys said they don't have the funding to purchase more. He said two residents in the county currently wear them.
"We do accept donations," he said.
Employees of the Alzheimer's Association of West Virginia can also provide free education on providing care for people with dementia.
"We really say there's no question too big or small because we know this is a strange new thing," said J.T. Hunter, family services coordinator. "There's no book that's going to walk you through this."
Hunter said the education they provide can help prevent wandering because they teach family members to avoid triggers. He said people with dementia are more likely to wander if you try to convince them of a fact their memory won't let them believe.
Hunter used the examples of arguing with them about where they live, whether they work or whether a spouse is alive. As a result, the person with dementia leaves the house in an effort to prove the family member wrong.
"If I say your wife passed away, he's going to go try to find his wife," Hunter said.
They can also provide education for first responders on finding missing people with dementia and working with the families.
"Something every time led up to this wandering," Hunter said. "We have to dig in and talk to the family."
Agencies in the area don't typically take them up on the training. Rader said he didn't know it was available.
"I've never heard of that," he said. "That'd be cool."
Reach Erin Beck at erin.beck@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-5163, Facebook.com/erinbeckwv, or follow @erinbeckwv on Twitter.