Update | Bessie Collins was found deceased on Thursday.
She was found near Blue Parkway and Elmwood Avenue. There were no signs of foul play.
Original story | The family of 87-year-old Bessie Collins, who has dementia, is planning a search party on Thursday morning as Kansas City, Missouri, detectives try to figure out where she may be after vanishing in the middle of the night.
The disappearance of Bessie Collins has her family on edge.
"My grandmother is the center of this family. She's everything to us. And we don't know where she is," Starla Ross, Collins' granddaughter said.
Loved ones say the grandmother of eight went to bed around 1 a.m. Sunday morning.
When her daughter woke up a few hours later, Collins was nowhere to be found.
"I went into her room [and] I didn't see her, so then I ran down the steps and she usually sits here in a chair," Louise Davis, Collins' daughter said. "She was not in her chair and then I looked at the door and the door was unlocked."
But a doorbell camera didn't capture any movement in or out of the home at 4915 Walrond Avenue.
Relatives say Collins has dementia and wouldn't go to many places other than church and a nearby adult daycare.
They checked those locations with no luck.
"She's 87. Even if you're a 20-something, you don't even want to be out in these elements at this time," Ross said.
Juliette Bradley, director of communications for the Alzheimer's Association Heart of America chapter, said wandering is a common behavior for those with dementia.
"Individuals who wander many times are found within a mile and a half of their home or their residence of where they wandered," Bradley said. "And typically, it's common that they will follow the dominant side of their of their body."
Police issued a Silver Alert on Sunday to get the word out on Collins' case as family members posted missing person fliers around the neighborhood.
"Our detectives, they have been talking to people, checking for surveillance and canvassing, you know, areas in and around where she was last seen," Sgt. Jake Becchina, a KCPD spokesperson said.
Now with each passing day, anxiety and worries increase for the Collins family.
"But we will find her, she means everything to me," Ross said. "She means everything to us."
Ross' family is asking for people to join the search party they're organizing.
It's set to begin on Thursday at 10 a.m. at the Collins house at 4915 Walrond Avenue.
Families who have loved ones with dementia or Alzheimer's and are concerned about wandering behaviors can call a 24/7 hotline for the Alzheimer's Association at (800)-272-3900
