VERO BEACH — Authorities intensified their search Wednesday for an 86-year-old man suffering from Dementia and Parkinson’s disease who vanished after walking away from an RV park over the weekend, officials said.
Donald Keaton was last seen around 2 p.m. Sunday, leaving the Encore Sunshine Travel RV park in the 9400 block of 108th Avenue, near his home in the Vero Lake Estates area of Indian River County. The park is located east of Interstate 95 and south of County Road 512.
Keaton is described as a white male, bald with blue eyes, standing 5 feet 9 inches tall and weighing about 150 pounds. He wears glasses. Updated information from authorities indicates he may have been wearing long dark dress pants, dress shoes, and a long-sleeve shirt, possibly layered over a short-sleeve polo-style shirt and dress shorts. An initial report described him wearing a gray-and-white T-shirt and matching shorts.
Surveillance footage reviewed by deputies shows Keaton walking away from the park, but his direction of travel remains unknown.
The search, now in its fourth day, involves multiple agencies, including the Indian River County Sheriff’s Office, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Brevard County Sheriff’s Office, and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Efforts include bloodhound teams, drones, helicopters, and all-terrain vehicles scouring nearby wooded and remote areas.
Indian River County Sheriff Eric Flowers said cases involving individuals with dementia are among the most challenging, emphasizing the urgency due to Keaton’s age and medical conditions. “This is of the utmost importance to us,” Flowers said at a news conference Monday.
If you have any information on his whereabouts, please call 911 or contact Det. K. Crawford at 772-978-6240 or call Treasure Coast Crime Stoppers at 1-800-273-8477.
