A 77-year-old Canton man with early-onset dementia who went missing on what was intended to be a casual golf outing has been discovered safe, according to the Stark County Sheriff’s Office. Terry Lee Zinslen left home on Monday morning and did not return, sparking a search that extended as far as neighboring West Virginia before he was Located.
Zinslen was last seen on the 1100 block of 39th Street SW in Canton, according to a Facebook post by the Stark County Sheriff’s Office. He had left for a planned golf outing in a black 2011 Cadillac SRX with the license plate GGE3606. Deputies described him as 5 feet 7 inches tall and weighing around 145 pounds, with brown-gray hair and hazel eyes. He was last seen wearing gray slacks and a pink shirt.
Investigators suspect Zinslen may have ended up in West Virginia, which is consistent with Canton’s location along Interstate 77, which runs approximately 90 miles south to the West Virginia border near Wheeling and Parkersburg. A bewildered driver on that freeway may cross state lines in a matter of hours, which is why authorities acted rapidly to share his description across jurisdictions.
There was some initial uncertainty regarding when Zinslen disappeared. Initial public statements stated his departure as Tuesday morning, however Jordan Miller – News reported that this was a clerical error and that relatives confirmed he left Monday morning.
Zinslen’s situation follows a pattern familiar to caregivers and scholars. According to the Alzheimer’s Association, six out of every ten people with dementia will wander away from safety at least once during their illness, with many wandering frequently, often at unanticipated phases of cognitive impairment. According to the Alzheimer’s Impact Movement, more than 236,000 Ohio people currently suffer from Alzheimer’s disease, and state health experts believe that up to half of those cases go undetected.
Cases involving vulnerable elders may trigger Ohio’s Endangered Missing Adult Alert program, which was established in 2008 and is maintained by the Ohio Attorney General’s Bureau of Criminal Investigations. To activate it, local law enforcement must determine that the missing person is at least 65 years old or has a medically documented mental handicap, and that their disappearance constitutes a genuine threat of significant bodily damage or death. Once activated, the alert distributes descriptions via emergency broadcast channels, LEADS terminals, and social media, with BCI’s 24/7 Missing Persons Unit hotline at 1-855-BCI-OHIO working with local departments on search efforts.
The system has a solid track record. In 2022, BCI issued 146 Endangered Missing Adult Alerts in 38 counties, and all but one of the missing adults were found or safely returned home. Hoodline previously covered a similar situation involving a 72-year-old woman with dementia who went missing in Wickliffe. For families dealing with a loved one’s progressive cognitive decline, Stark County Probate Court has the authority to terminate powers of attorney and establish adult guardianships when relatives can demonstrate that the person can no longer manage their own safety or finances, according to Court News Ohio.
The Stark County Sheriff’s Office, which covers over 370,000 people, operates a non-emergency dispatch line at 330-430-3800 and a mobile app that broadcasts emergency notices and collects public tips. In its post announcing Zinslen’s absence, the agency requested the public to share the notification widely to help spread the word, a step credited with assisting in the swift resolution of missing senior cases across the state.
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