After a five-day search, the Leon County Sheriff’s Office found the person who was the subject of a Silver Alert dead in Wakulla County.
LCSO spokeswoman Shonda Knight said officers found 72-year-old Deforest Dale Simmons lying next to his white pickup truck on Thursday evening. No foul play is suspected.
Simmons’ daughter Diedra Vernon reported him missing on Sunday, and the LCSO issued a Silver Alert, which is used to “locate missing persons suffering from irreversible deterioration of their mental faculties.”
Vernon told the Tallahassee Democrat that her father suffers from dementia. Before leaving, Simmons had just been released from the hospital after a six-week hospital stay, she said.
He was in hospital with breathing problems and Vernon said she believed the lack of oxygen had made him more confused than usual. Driving off and not coming back was “unusual behavior” and he had never done anything like that before, she added.
Simmons’ Facebook page states that he graduated from Florida A&M University and Rickards High School and was a deacon at Loved by Jesus Family Church.
Breaking and trending news reporter Elena Barrera can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on X: @elenabarreraaa.
