E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSS
Courtesy of the Dowd family
Charles Dowd, 69, a retired San Francisco firefighter went missing en route to visit his son and family in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
A retired San Francisco firefighter was reported missing after he disappeared from an Amtrak train headed to Chicago.
Charles J. Dowd was traveling on a train from Emeryville, Calif., but when the train arrived in Chicago on Sept. 14, Amtrak officials found his luggage, cell phone and medication, but Dowd was not on the train, according to family members. His eventual destination was a visit with family in Montreal.
Family members say they are concerned because Dowd, 69, is potentially disoriented and needs his medication.
For more, visit NBCBayArea.com
"He has medical needs and does need his medication for high blood pressure and heart disease," daughter Jennifer Dowd told CNN affiliate KGO. "He is diabetic, but for medical reasons we obviously want him. We need to know where he is."
Dowd was last heard from by cell phone on Sept. 13, and was allegedly last seen by a train conductor near Omaha, Neb.
The conductor said a person who fits Dowd's description appeared disoriented and confused about his whereabouts, thinking he was in an apartment rather than on a train and that he needed to find the front door. Police have yet to confirm the man the conductor saw was actually Dowd.
According to CNN, the train made several overnight stops: in Fort Morgan, Colo., and in the Nebraska cities of McCook, Holdrege, Hasting, Lincoln and Omaha.
Dowd is described as a white male with blue eyes and gray hair. He is 5 feet 10 inches tall and weighs about 175 pounds. His family set up a Facebook page to help find him.
Dowd's children are traveling to Omaha Monday and plan to go to the Amtrak station at 3 p.m. CT to pass out flyers and search the area.
More content from NBCNews.com:
- Richer communities get more funds to clean up toxic brownfields
- 19-year-old charged with shaking baby to death
- Occupy protesters blast 'criminality' of Wall Street
- One year later, what ever happened to Occupy Wall Street?
- Suspected anti-Islam filmmaker questioned by Feds
- Obama: US has 'profound respect for people of all faiths'
Leave a Comment:
Diabetic reaction?
"...that he needed to find the front door."
He found it.
I'm just thinking the headline could have been shorter if it didn't include his bio. Was he gay too?
Well, at least you got to pimp your book off this sad story....jerk.
Nice job of spamming, Whistle. Book sales slow?
He has all these medical problems. Why wouldn't somebody from his family go with him?
A man who gets disoriented was travelling on a train cross county alone?
When I read the line "The conductor said a person who fits Dowd's description appeared disoriented and confused about his whereabouts" after reading he was diabetic made my heart sink. My son was a diabetic and lost his battle on Christmas Eve. His blood sugar dropped so low he was not able to recover. I hope that this man is found in time and isn't mistaken for someone who is drunk or mentally disabled. Will be keeping this family in my thoughts and prayers.
Who gives a crap-he's only a human and not more important than anyone else. Maybe they'll cancel pension (don't know if that's even done, prob. not) and the taxpayers won't have to pay for another lazy piece of governmentally paid garbage to sit around in a recliner eating ice cream all day.
@Vypr-what a sick prick you are. Please jump off at the next exit.
With today's Camera's and technology. Hopefully someone can use it to find one of our Elders. Yes there are still some people in our country that were raised right. And some who would hope that society has not come to the point. Where there are more people who could care less than actually have a Humane heart for our Elderly. The man is 69 years old. Served as a fireman probably saved many lives.
And I give a crap and know any human life is just as important as any other. Even yours Vypr hopefully someday you real-ize and re-member you are also human.
And for all the he should not have been traveling alone. I say he should be able to travel alone. And we all should be so kind as to look out for our Elderly. Open a door say Sir or Mam. Help out when needed.
The reason for the full bio is they want help finding him, assuming he probably just got off the train in the wrong city
He shouldn't have been traveling alone with such medical issues. I hope for his safe return.
His family should contact authorities in each of these places where the train stopped overnight. He could be wandering around and someone there would spot him. I'll bet when the train stopped and doors opened, he obviously got off at one of these cities.
So apparently everyone ignored him because they thought he was an old drunk. Amazing how little we care for our fellow human beings that being said he should not have been traveling alone.
"Everyone ignored him beacause they thought he was an old drunk" The article said the conductors saw a person who looked like him disoriented. You should write fairy tales and your imagination is way out there. And you also assume others did not care for him.
I hope he is found safe. Everyone needs to let this play out and many are now looking for this man.
Right, IXLR8 - the conductor saw a person who seemed to be disoriented and DID NOT get help for him. What did they do? Go on about their business?
Yeah RK, they jump over every person on a long train ride who looks tired or had a few beers. I doubt they let him crawl on all fours to the tracks. Try public transportation and see how fast things go.
IXLR8..u r a moron....his own family did not care and you expect starngers to ...who in this world cares about anyone today..Its sad but you and I both know that even if someone saw him looking like that they would not do a dam thing! Im sure theyd turn a deaf ear and in their minds say he is a wack job..
BUT in all honesty the family are all idiots..who lets a man whom they say has all these issues go on a train by themselves. They are guilty here of neglect as far as Im concerned...This whole world is coming apart!!
Yo Joe, Conjecture in your mind moron. You are another with a crystal ball, too bad it is stuck somewhere.
Joe, people are afraid of offending the elderly. Many seniors are feisty and will snap at you if you try to offer help. And maybe Mr. Dowd was like that, fiercely independent, insisting on taking this trip alone. He was once a firefighter, remember. These kinds of issues put family and friends in a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" sort of position.
Disorientation and confusion in an older person can be very subtle. A caring person who notices, like the Conductor, may ponder whether or not to approach, or let the senior work it out for him-or-herself.Had Mr. Dowd's behavior been more overtly distressed, I feel certain the Conductor would have then stepped in.
It is very hard to know whether to "butt in" or stay silent in these kinds of situations. We can probably expect to hear about more and more of them, too, with the surfeit of seniors we have now.
I pray that Mr. Dowd is found soon in good condition.
Brydae, very true observations. We had an elderly grandfather at 81 who refused to let anyone go with him when he traveled cross country despite everyones efforts to have family join him. Even as it caused terrible troubles. He did great, took care of his medical issues, checked in with us. But boy did everyone have fits of worries! He said that was how he had always lived and would not have it any other way.
There is more to consider though. In our busy daily lives, we have lost the sense of community caring which once helped bind this nation together. The ties which enabled us to look beyond our homes and see those around us as part of our world which was important in helping form the foundation which we could rely on for security, similar values and stability.
Now we have almost totally lost the art of talking face to face or understanding body language. Even taking time to actually share our literal selves, not images, voices or messages about our lives, with anyone not connected immediately to our activities or interests. We keep so busy, often will silly things that there is no time to form relationships with those we consider, "nonessential? people. But our parents, grandparents and theirs would have found priceless in life.
In fact, we hoard our space and keep ourselves constantly in isolated conditions while surrounded by others doing likewise. Living in boxes, driving boxes, working in cubicals. So, of course, why would most people even notice, let alone care about a confused older gentleman? They are living in their own private worlds, literally a gazillion realities away from his "world." Let's hope we learn to connect more with others before it's too late for us.
Meanwhile, let's pray there will be someone who is as caring as this man has spent his life being, to help guide him home to his loved ones soon. If anyone deserves a break, surely he does.And instead of judging his worried family without knowing the circumstances, keep them in your prayers too, they must be feeling terrible right now as well.
Sounds like that was not the front door he stepped out of. To be lost in Omaha, frightening. A baby boomer Caucasian wearing glasses in Nebraska. He should be easy to spot,
If Omaha was so frightening, would we have the College World Series, Olympic Swim Trials, and one of the best zoos in the world? Come visit some time Bi-Polar. Warren Buffett thinks it's nice enough to call home. I'd rather be lost and disoriented in Omaha than say Chicago or New York.
I would agree on Chicago and New York. It's Nebraska though. Why do you grow so much corn? Don't you get tired of corn? Grow some ginseng or something interesting. Could you do that? Then maybe I'll think about it.
Omaha was a great place to raise a child. Very family oriented. Pretty women too.
Bi Polar, you've obviously never been to Nebraska (or if you have, you just drove through on the Interstate). There are other crops here, but the LAND tells you what type of plants to grow (Ginseng takes a different environment). If Nebraska and Iowa were to stop growing corn, where would we get all the corn products that come from them? There are other states (and Canada) that grow corn, but a big chunk would be taken away and you'd feel it in the wallet.
And really, with your attitude, I seriously doubt you'd still find Nebraska a "worthwhile" place if they grew 800 different crops. To you, it would just be more boring plants.
If this gentleman is in Omaha, his chances of being found alive are better than if he was in Chicago or New York, and hopefully that happens soon.
Chanie, you mis-spelled Obama.
He may have fallen asleep and woke up to the nightmare that we used to call the USA. When the conductor yelled "Omaha", the poor guy thought he heard "Obama", and he jumped out a window! It COULDA HAPPENED!
Screw you both. This is NOT the time or place to make something political.
There are plenty of places you can whine that will actually appreciate it. Leave us alone.
Mr. Cheesehead, your display name is fitting.
I don't grow corn. I work in an insurance office. Omaha is not a corn field. Yes, NE grows a lot of corn. Do you drive a car? There is ethanol in the gas you fill it up with. Ethanol comes from . . . corn. Bio-plastics are also made of corn. We also grow soybeans. We have a beautiful pumpkin patch (Vala's Pumkin Patch) right outside of Omaha that is a real treat for the kiddos around Halloween! Nebraska City is the home of Arbor Day. You can drive south out of Omaha about 45 minutes and go to the tree farm. There is apple picking, a 50 ft high tree house, and weekend wine tasting. Yes, you head farther west and there are places on the interstate where all you can see is corn and smell manure. That's the smell of money baby!
I loved the pumpkin patch. Ten min. to the casinos. Fireworks at Rosenblatt. back in GA now. I miss it.
Is it a SINCERE pumpkin patch?
So the conductor didn't help someone that was disoriented?
Sounds to me like this gentleman should not have been traveling alone. All his medical conditions should have said to the family that he needs a travel buddy. Then again anybody can Monday morning quarterback.
what i dont get is...if the family new about his health issues why didnt anybody go get him so this wud have never happened????????...i hope u find him and he is ok....
what i dont get is....if the family new his health issues why didnt anybody go get him so this wouldnt never happened??? i hope u find him and he is ok....
So a conductor sees a man disoriented, and thinking hes in an apartment rather than a train, and he doesnt do anything to help the man? WTF..
Amtrak what kind of idiots do you have working for you?
It's not just Amtrak; it's all of the U.S.
You are so right about that Sichuan. All you have to do is read some of the posts on here to know just how bad the people of America can be ... this is not at all the America most of us grew up in I can assure you.
if this man has dementia or mind lapses, why did the family let him go alone, at least they could have let the railroad know to keep an eye on him???? sounds like another bunch of liberal democrats looking for someone to blame their shortcomings on????? i can see the lawsit already ! ! ! ! !
someone please find this brother fireman and get him back to his family....
Good luck hoping for any help from Amtrak personnel at the larger stations. On our trips, we were screamed at, physically intimidated, and berated in Chicago because we asked for repeats of the garbled PA system announcements and contradictory boarding and transfer information. Disabled seniors were left to their own devices and ridiculed, and luggage was left behind for these passengers to transport to the train on their own.
And station staff in Cleveland and Rochester treat people like cattle at best.
Once on the train (West of Chicago), however, the stewards and car conductors were wonderful and I can't say enough good about them. We LOVE the Amtrak system, but a situation like the one in the article is only surprising in that it hasn't happened sooner.
Our thoughts and prayers go out to this man and his family.
I really hope they find him my father is a firefighter and i consider them all family <3
Why not make the headline "Man Requiring Medication Missing."
What does his former job have to do with his disappearance? If he was a mechanic would the headline read " Retired San Francisco mechanic missing from Amtrack train". Give me a break. Who really cares what he did when he worked!
What the hell was this family thinking?!?! They knew of his mental state and still allowed him on that train, are you kidding me??? My mom had diabetes and dementia and you can't let her out of your sight! I hope they find him safe and sound.
Where there's a will there's a
waydead relative.Have you ever tried to convince an elderly relative not to travel? I can't even get my mother to buy travel insurance for her overseas jaunts. (She voluntarily gave up driving several years ago, after a minor accident that scared her.) Unless someone is demented enough to be under guardianship, you can't stop them, and no, you can't always invite yourself to tag along just in case something goes wrong.
The thing is, the family knew he was disorientated. Besides being a diabetic, sounds like he may have a type of dementia and should not be alone or be placed in a dementia specific facility. This poor guy should never have been on this train alone. It's going to be a burden and change for the family, but hopefully they find him and the family gets a second chance on taking care of him the right way for years to come.
This happened back in May too. That time it didn't turn out so well
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-05-25/news/chi-amtrak-mystery-train-arrives-in-chicago-but-texas-man-no-longer-on-it-20120525_1_amtrak-spokesman-amtrak-police-marc-magliari
Happened in July too. Robin Putnam supposedly stepped off an Amtrak train in Salt Lake City. Belongings left on train. He has not been seen since !!!
Conductor: "Next stop is Willoughby."
Nice Twilight Zone ref. to one of the in my opinion best episodes ever.
In all seriousness "What the hell was he doing traveling alone"?
Hopefully he didn't go out the door until the train had stopped.
Who is John Galt?
It would be cool if ALL the people in that area would help find this man..
as a retired railroad conductor i can tell you a train is not a good place for people who are not cognizant.
the outside doors are not locked and some disoriented people have opened them and fallen out even while the train is moving with sometimes disastrous consequences.
Yes I was also thinking the same thing,,but I don't think all amtrack's doors open automatically...(don't know for sure, but I hope not)...I hope he's found alive and not in a deep ditch...