CAPE WOMAN MISSING; FOUL PLAY NOT BEING RULED OUT

An elderly Cape Girardeau woman is missing after her husband, who reportedly suffers from dementia, was found Tuesday morning driving his car in Illinois near St. Louis after becoming disoriented.

A family member said Wednesday he suspects the woman was abducted. Police said the woman's husband and other family members do not know her whereabouts. They acknowledged foul play is a possibility.

The woman is Clarisse Louise Chism, 74, of 2545 Maria Louise Lane. Her husband is Harold Chism, a former Cape Girardeau dentist, also in his 70s, police said.

The couple's son-in-law, Don Palmer of Naperville, Ill. near Chicago, described Harold Chism as suffering from dementia, an impairment or loss of mental powers. Lt. John Brown, head of the detective division at the Cape Girardeau Police Department, said Clarisse Chism does not suffer from a similar condition. Brown said police suspect she left the couple's home with her husband.

Brown said family members have told police that the couple occasionally go to St. Louis, where they stay in a hotel while shopping and taking part in other activities.

A person saw Harold Chism in a Waterloo, Ill., residential area before calling authorities, he said. Monroe County, Ill., authorities later stopped him driving his car in a rural area, said Brown.

Brown described Chism as being disoriented while in the residential area. Waterloo is about 15 miles southeast of St. Louis.

Palmer said both he and some police officers suspect foul play in his mother-in-law's disappearance, though his wife, Melissa, is "holding onto an optimistic point of view." Palmer said he believes the woman was abducted.

Foul play is a possibility, Brown acknowledged. And as time goes on, he said, police are becoming more and more concerned about that possibility, although they have no evidence of foul play.

Said Brown: "Our only reason for being concerned about foul play is that she hasn't contacted her family or anyone in a couple of days. That's unusual for her. Those circumstances alone make us concerned."

Brown said the couple do not have lots of money and don't carry large amounts of cash on them. It appears the couple handle most of their commercial dealings by credit card, he said.

It's possible, Palmer said, that someone saw his mother-in-law at a store. Because the woman is 74 years old, and relatively small, Palmer said, she would be an "easy target." The possibility also exists that his mother-in-law did not leave Cape Girardeau with her husband, he said, and was abducted from the couple's home.

Palmer said his mother-in-law, the primary caregiver for her husband, would not have abandoned him. If anything, he said, there's a 5 percent chance that she would have left on her own accord.

His mother-in-law, he said, is very clear-minded. She has had minor strokes in the past, but has had surgery to minimize the chance of future strokes, Palmer said.

"However, in her minor strokes, she's never had any permanent paralysis or speech impediment to the point that anyone would notice," he said.

Palmer said there is a chance his mother-in-law suffered a major stroke or heart attack. He added that she has no history of heart problems.

Palmer said the couple's dogs, two mid-size German schnauzers, are usually kept in a room of their home when they leave. Yet the dogs, he said, were found roaming free.

Clarisse Chism's car, still at the couple's house, was unlocked, he said. Palmer said the couple always lock their cars because they live across from Arena Park.

His mother-in-law phoned he and his wife at their Naperville home at 9 a.m. Monday and said nothing about going to St. Louis, Palmer said. Typically, she would have, he said. The call was made from the couple's Cape Girardeau home, he said.

A psychic he contacted at Delavin, Ill., 40 miles south of Peoria, also believes his mother-in-law was abducted, Palmer said. The psychic, he said, has reportedly worked with various police departments on missing persons cases, with success.

"I'm trying to cover every possible base to locate my mother-in-law," he said.