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From the Office of the Sheriff
Sheriff Dennis L. Dotson
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For Immediate Release
NEWS RELEASE
Date: Jan 26, 2009
| Contact: |
Deputy Bruce McGuire
bmcguire@co.lincoln.or.us |
| Incident: |
Missing 90 Year Old South Beach Resident |
| Date Occurred: |
January 22, 2009 |
| Time Occurred: |
Approximately 9:26 am |
| Location: |
7400 Block of SW Surfland Street, South Beach, Oregon |
Summary:
On January 22, 2009 the Lincoln County 911 Dispatch Center (LinCom) received a call about a missing person in the Surfland area of South Beach, Oregon. Lincoln County Sheriff’s Deputies were called to the area and obtained a description of the missing person. The missing female, 90 year old Vivian Gertrude Vickers of South Beach, had left her home sometime between 5:00am and 7:15am that morning according to family members who were staying with her. Deputies were unsuccessful in locating her during a search of the immediate area around her residence. Deputy Bruce McGuire, Search and Rescue Coordinator for the Lincoln County Sheriffs Office, responded to the scene.
Deputy McGuire obtained additional information about Vickers from family members and activated Lincoln County Sheriffs Search and Rescue members, Newport Fire Department personnel, C.E.R.T. (Community Emergency Response Team) members, and the United States Coast Guard to begin a search. Residents in the area were contacted and given information about Vickers. Ground search teams canvassed the Surfland area while Newport Fire and the United States Coast Guard searched the surf line and beach area with helicopter and ATV patrols. Lincoln County Sheriffs Search and Rescue K-9’s were also deployed and several indications from the dogs led searchers to the beach area, however, no sign of Vickers was found.
Search teams canvassed the entire Surfland and Pacific Shores residential areas spanning from as far north as the Yaquina River to as far south as the Lost Creek State Park. Newport police personnel also assisted in the search by checking several locations in the Newport area and following up on citizen reports of possible sightings of Vickers.
LinCom disseminated an emergency message using a Reverse 911 mass calling system, detailing the missing person information and description of Vickers. The message was disseminated to approximately 7000 local telephone numbers in the Newport and South Beach areas over a five hour period. This was the first operational use of this system.
The search was suspended at dusk due to safety concerns of the searchers as well as the amount of area that was covered by the ground teams with no signs of Vickers or her direction of travel.
On January 23, 2009, Lincoln County Sheriffs Deputies resumed search efforts in a scaled down search of the area. Patrol Deputies conducted searches of the beach, water and surrounding area of Vickers’ home with no success.
Vivian Vickers is described as 5’02” tall, weighing 100 pounds, blonde or tan colored curly hair, and a glass left eye. She was last seen wearing a blue flannel or fleece pajama top and pants bottom and light colored shoes. She has no identification with her and she suffers from dementia.
The location of Ms. Vickers is unknown at the date and time of this release. Anyone with information about the possible whereabouts of Ms. Vickers is asked to call LinCom at 541-265-4231 or your local law enforcement agency.
The Lincoln County Sheriffs Office was assisted by the Newport Fire Department, Newport Police Department, Surfland Community Emergency Response Team, United States Coast Guard, LinCom and concerned neighbors of the Surfland area for their help in this search.
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