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Mendocino Sheriff’s Office Searches for Missing 72-Year-Old Albion Man with Dementia · KMUD News

• 0:00
  Speaker A: Turning to Mendocino, authorities are searching for 72 year old Albion resident Daniel J. Salmond, who was last seen on the morning of Thursday, February 27th at his home on Middle Ridge Road in Albion. According to the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office, Salmond, who suffers from worsening dementia, was reported missing after an inhome supportive services worker returned on March 1 and found that he was no longer at his residence. For more on this case, we spoke with public information officer, the captain of the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office.
• 0:42
  Speaker B: Yeah, my name is Quincy Cromer. I'm the field services captain for the Sheriff's office here in Mendocino County. It was reported to US On Saturday, March 1st of 2025, there was a missing person. It would be at an address on Middle Ridge Road in Albion, which is off of Albion Ridge. And the person was identified as Daniel Salmond. The last name is S A L M O N D and he is a 72 year old white male. So the person that reported it to us is Daniel's in home support services worker who from my understanding would go to Daniel's house every other day and check on him and care for him and provide resources. So this reporting party that called us had checked on Daniel what would be Thursday, February 27, at about 10:30 in the morning and Daniel was there. They spoke, offered help and assistance and all that. And then on Saturday around 10:00am that would be the 1st of March, this same reporting party went to Daniel's home and could not find him. The reporting party did notify us that Daniel suffers from some sort of dementia or Alzheimer's symptoms, which is of course concerning to us. So we didn't get the call until about Saturday at around 5:30 in the evening. We had some difficulty in getting a hold of the reporting party, but we responded immediately to the scene. And based on the circumstances and Daniel's advanced age and then other health issues like the dementia and Alzheimer's, we deployed search and rescue that night. So I know we had, I believe upwards of seven or eight SAR members and other law enforcement that responded to Daniel's address there on Middle Ridge Road in Albion that night on Saturday and searched throughout the darkness and evening. And we're unable to locate Daniel or any clues regarding his, his disappearance and him being missing. So we continued to deploy search and rescue. On Sunday we did another call out with what we would call local resources, so our own personal Mendocino County Sheriff's Office search and rescue team. And again we searched for the majority Of Sunday during the daylight hours did not find any clues or any evidence about Daniel's whereabouts. So we requested some mutual aid through the California office of emergency services and primarily through our neighboring county. So it'd be Marin county, Sonoma county and Humboldt county, along with Mendocino county search and rescue. And I believe we have 47 searchers deployed out in Albion today searching for Daniel. I don't have any reports today as far as clues or any type of evidence regarding Daniel's Daniel being a missing person, but they are still out there actively searching.
• 3:19
  Speaker A: Earlier this Monday, the Mendocino sheriff's office issued a situational awareness notice informing the public that search and rescue operations are continuing in the Albion area. Authorities urged the public to use caution in the area of Albion Ridge road Due to ongoing law enforcement search efforts.
• 3:43
  Speaker B: And Daniel is described as a 72 year old white male. He's approximately 6 foot tall, 160 pounds, with a light complexion, gray hair and blue eyes. And although we don't know exactly what Daniel is wearing from his in home support services worker, it is believed that Daniel would be wearing a flannel shirt, khaki pants and brown boots. And it does look like from pictures that we have on our website, on Facebook and other places that Daniel may have a ponytail, so longer gray hair. So at this point in time, we're asking anyone with information that they may know of Daniel or where he might go. It is believed that he may have left the house on foot, you know, walking. And the reporting party said Daniel does not drive, so we don't expect that he would be in a vehicle. But at this point we're considering anything an option. But we are continuing to expand our search efforts around the residence and the. The areas that Daniel would frequent to see if maybe he had a medical situation or possibly could have become injured. But time is of course, of the essence because I think there are some people in the neighboring. It's a pretty remote area there on Albion ridge and middle ridge road. So I think most neighbors know each other. And we've had a few that we've tracked down that may have seen him walking on the road or along the roadway on Friday. I haven't vetted those through or our investigators haven't completely vetted those through to see what level of certainty those people have that it was Daniel. But we're still following up on those types of investigative leads. And we're just asking that anyone that has information regarding Daniel or his possible whereabouts Calls the sheriff's Office office at 707-463-4086 and just press option one so you can go immediately to our dispatch.
• 5:24
  Speaker A: Salmond is the second elderly individual from an isolated coastal community in northern Mendocino county to go missing in the past month. We asked officials whether foul play is suspected or if there's any possibility that these cases are connected.
• 5:43
  Speaker B: There's none whatsoever in my mind. I know that they are both Mendocino county cases, but they are very far removed from each other. Whitethorne is about as remote, remote in our county as you can be. And with people seeing Daniel there at the house on Thursday and then potential witnesses seeing him walking along the roadside on Friday, we believe that Daniel may have either went for a walk or walked away from the house and just went missing from there. But I don't believe there's any relationship with the White Thorn or Wales Gulch case.
• 6:13
  Speaker A: North coast residents are encouraged to check in on their neighbors, particularly those who may need additional support. Anyone concerned about an elderly resident's well being is advised to reach out to their local sheriff's office as additional support services may be available.
• 6:34
  Speaker B: Absolutely. At the end of the day, the neighbors and family members and residents around them will know if there's something going on before the sheriff's office ever will. So when in doubt, call us. We can do welfare check checks, we can check on those people. We can get adult protective services or anyone else involved that might be able to provide resources. But we are talking about this person who lives in a very remote area. And you also mentioned another one from earlier in February that lives in a very, very remote area of our county that, you know, I know there's people that check on them. And at the end of the day, when in doubt, call the sheriff's office. We can go check on them. And if you can't find them, don't hesitate to call us. You know, especially in this scenario, time is always of the essence, especially with the elderly, but it is with any missing person. And there still seems to be this misconception from the media or at least television shows that there's a waiting period for missing persons investigations that you have to have to be missing for 48 hours before they can be reported as missing to law enforcement. And that's just not true. If somebody is not where they're supposed to be, even if they're going hiking or mushroom hunting or hunting or any of those things, and they do not return as planned and you cannot reach them, report them and we will follow up. If they come home in an hour. No harm, no foul. At least we were on it and we knew about it. So we could go do those initial investigative steps to see if they would return or at least check the area they were last known to be. But the main thing I would like to relay to your listeners is don't hesitate to call us if somebody is not where they're supposed to be and there is no timeframe to wait before reporting a missing person.
• 8:00
  Speaker A: Concluding Captain Cromer stated that MCSO is continuing its search efforts and urges the public to use caution and avoid the area while operations are underway.
• 8:12
  Speaker B: No, I'm hoping to have some updates today and we'll continue searching for this person. The one thing that's a little more unique on this case from the White Thorn or Wales Gulch case, we don't know where that person's last whereabouts were because they were in a vehicle and believed to be moving. So they could be anywhere. We're still focusing on this one and putting resources to it with Search and Rescue because we, we hope and believe that they are nearby the residents. Because this person is an elderly male, and I don't think that their mobility is great. So the ambition and hope is that they would be in close proximity to their house. And that's why we're putting efforts and search assignments towards this one right now.
• 8:49
  Speaker A: Daniel Salmond is 6ft tall, 160 pounds, with gray hair and blue eyes. He was last seen wearing a flannel shirt, khaki pants and brown boots. Anyone with information on his whereabouts is urged to contact the Mendocino County Sheriff's office at 707463. A photo of the missing man can be viewed@kmud.org and on our social media platform.