Crime & Safety

UPDATED: Missing Elderly Man From Wakefield Found in Haverhill

Police searched the Stoneham region before eventually locating Joseph Doucette, a 67-year-old man with early onset dementia who went missing from a Bathol Street nursing home in Wakefield on Monday afternoon, in Haverhill Tuesday evening.

The 67-year-old man with dementia who went missing from a Wakefield nursing home on Monday afternoon was located by Haverhill Police on Tuesday evening at a bus stop in Haverhill.

Wakefield Police received a tip on Tuesday afternoon that Joseph Doucette, who was reported missing from the Sunbridge Wakefield Care and Rehab on Bathol Street around 3 p.m. on Monday afternoon, had visited a friend that day in Haverhill, Mass.

However, it was unclear to police where Doucette went after visiting that friend.

Find out what's happening in Stonehamfor free with the latest updates from Patch.

It wasn't until approximately 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday afternoon that Haverhill Police spotted Doucette waiting at a bus stop in Haverhill.

Doucette's disappearance sparked a late-night helicopter and K-9 search of the woods surrounding the Bathol Street nursing home and nearby areas of Melrose and Stoneham. A reverse 9-1-1 call was also sent out to residents at 1 a.m. on Tuesday morning.

Find out what's happening in Stonehamfor free with the latest updates from Patch.

When all areas of those woods had been searched thoroughly and Doucette was not located by mid-afternoon on Tuesday, the large-scale search operation in the woods was called off.

Doucette was returned to Wakefield on Tuesday evening.

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