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Missing Calista man found

Chloe FraserSound Telegraph
Missing Calista man Werner Pietsch was located safe and well this morning. Picture; Chloe Fraser
Camera IconMissing Calista man Werner Pietsch was located safe and well this morning. Picture; Chloe Fraser

An elderly man reported missing after he failed to return home from a walk yesterday has been found.

78-year-old Werner Pietsch had not been seen since he was reported missing from Chilcott Street in on Wednesday, May 1.

The search for Mr Pietsch, who suffered from dementia, ended at about 10.30am this morning.

Mr Pietsch was located safe and well by SES volunteers near shrubbery on Wellard Road, about 1.5km from where he went missing.

About 50 SES volunteers from across Perth and 22 police were involved in the search.

Mr Pietsch’s son Kevin this morning thanked search crews and said he relieved to be reunited with his father.

“I can’t give words to describe how relieved I am,” he said.

“He’s got a few cuts and grazes so he’s probably taken a tumble somewhere...but he doesn’t seem to be otherwise affected.

“My mum’s pretty shaken up, probably more so than dad actually, because anybody that’s had an dealings with a person who has dementia realises that they don’t actually understand or know what trouble they’ve caused.

“He’s sitting there in the car at the moment quietly enjoying a ham toastie and saying ‘oh what’s going on’, so he’s quite OK.”

“But you’re not going to stop events like this and it’s one of those things families of people with dementia live with.

“Thankfully it doesn’t happen that often, sometimes we have instaces like this and thankfully we have a great system in place to help out.”

Police inspector Glenn Spencer said it was important for families to have conversations and plans in place when dealing with family members with dementia and to also have current photographs on hand.

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