Public's Help Needed To Find Missing Leisure World Resident With Alzheimer's
LAGUNA WOODS (CBSLA.com) — The family of a Leisure World resident with Alzheimer's disease asked for the public's help Tuesday in finding him after reporting him missing Saturday night.
Sa K. Lee, 82, was last seen at his home in the Leisure World Community of Laguna Woods Saturday at about 10 p.m. Police say Lee has medical and memory problems and has wandered away in the past.
"He rarely goes out – even during the daytime. We try to drag him out to lunch and he doesn't really like to go out," the man's son, Johnny Lee, said.
Lee's wife thought her husband was asleep when she took a shower at about 9:45 p.m. Saturday, and she activated a door alarm.
"There was no sign anybody left," Johnny Lee said, adding he later discovered his father turned the alarm off before leaving.
Sa Lee, who is of Korean descent and does not speak English, lives with his wife and son. He has left home twice over the past year, but a Leisure World security guard found him both times and brought him home, Johnny Lee said.
"Sometimes he has a pretty decent consciousness and he knows who I am," Johnny Lee said, adding that his father's short-term memory is weak. "He remembers 30-year-old memories, but doesn't remember today."
The missing man was a farmer when his family lived in Korea 30 years ago. Before he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's, he had a passion for golf, his son said.
"He used to play every day for 10 years," Johnny Lee said.
Sa Lee was last seen wearing a navy blue V-neck sweater, khaki pants and a baseball cap. He is about 5 feet 7 inches, 150 pounds, with salt-and-pepper hair and brown eyes. He does not have access to a vehicle and is believed to be walking.
Anyone who has seen Sa Lee or has information about his whereabouts can call Orange County sheriff's investigators at (714) 647-7055 or (714) 647-7000.
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