POLICE CALL OF SEARCH FOR MISSING MAN

CAIRO -- Area police agencies called a halt Tuesday to a search over several counties for a man with Alzheimer's disease who walked away from his home on Sunday.

Julius Lane, 70, wandered away from a home he was staying at between 7 a.m. and 8 a.m. on Sunday, said Buddy Mitchell, Alexander County Sheriff. Although people had reported seeing him in and around Cairo on Sunday, he has not been located yet, Mitchell said.

Lane is a black male, 5 feet 7 inches tall, weighing approximately 150 pounds. He has a medium complexion, a gold tooth, and is balding with gray hair on the sides.

Lane was reported missing Sunday about 4 p.m.

"He has done this several times before and always come back," Mitchell said. "This time he hasn't come back."

Four separate sightings of Lane were reported on Sunday, the sheriff said. One was between Cairo and Klondike, a tiny community just east of Cairo on Route 3. He was also seen in Cairo at a Food Town grocery store and a truck stop. The last sighting reported Lane walking north along the southbound side of Interstate 57.

Both Cairo police and Illinois State Police have assisted in the search. Searchers have hunted for Lane on foot, four-wheel ATVs, and in an airplane from the State Police.

Lane's symptoms of Alzheimer's come and go, Mitchell said.

"He does have his faculties about him," he said.

Alzheimer's is a disease that effects the brain, causing memory loss. In its early stages, events from the past are recalled but day-to-day happenings are forgotten. Medical experts say Alzheimer's effects 20 to 30 percent of those over 85 years old.

Lane has lived in the Cairo area with friends for about three years, the sheriff said.

Originally from Chicago, Lane had told others that he wanted to be closer to a veteran's hospital, and that he was going to go to Paducah, Mitchell said.