An 81-year-old Indian Wells man has been reunited with his family after the circumstances of his disappearance Monday sparked a Silver Alert and the California Highway Patrol sprung into action.
The day after he went missing, CHP located the at-risk man named Howard Groff and his vehicle on the shoulder of Interstate 10 at Wiley's Well Road, Sgt. Daniel Milbrandt and in a news release from the Riverside County Sheriff's Department.
"Groff was in good health and was transported to a local CHP station to be reunited with his family," he said.
The Silver Alert was issued when Groff departed his family's residence on the 51000 block of Desert Arroyo Trail in Indian Wells at 9:15 a.m. Monday with neither his wallet nor his cellular phone, Milbrandt said. After his family reported him missing, the release said, deputies from Palm Desert Sheriff's Station responded to the home at approximately 1:04 p.m. that day. Milbrandt said circumstances resulted in the immediate notification of CHP, which then activated the Silver Alert.
The investigation itself was headed by Palm Desert Investigations Bureau, which spread information regarding Groff to law-enforcement agencies, from the local level on the way up to federal.
It was Tuesday when investigators got word that Groff's vehicle was seen traveling eastbound on Interstate 10 at Dillon Road in Coachella. CHP discovered both Groff and his vehicle on the I-10 shoulder, west of Blythe, according to Milbrandt.
The description of Groff disseminated by CHP officials indicated Groff was last seen wearing a white T-shirt, black pants, black shoes and was believed to be operating a white 2008 GMC Yukon, Palm Desert Patch said.
According to the CHP website, a Silver Alert goes out when a missing person is at-risk because they are elderly or have developmental or cognitive impairments. Silver Alerts get the public involved in helping to quickly recover such individuals before they are possibly hurt.