By Gene Warner
News Staff Reporter
A missing 83-year-old Cheektowaga man was found safe this morning — in his own car in Frederick, Md., almost 350 miles from home.
Richard Eberle missed a doctor's appointment Tuesday afternoon and failed to meet friends for dinner. He was last seen at about 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, at the Tops Plaza on Union Road.
Cheektowaga police searched the places he liked to frequent, including the Walden Galleria, before sending information about Eberle to the New York Statewide Police Information Network.
At about 7:15 a.m. today, Cheektowaga police received a call from the Frederick County Sheriff's Department, west of Baltimore, saying that Eberle had been found safe there.
Eberle's red Chevrolet Impala was stopped at about 6:20 a.m. today, when it was traveling northbound in the southbound lane of a road there. Sheriff's deputies found that Eberle was somewhat disoriented and had him taken to a hospital there.
They also put Eberle's license-plate number into a computer, alerting them that he had been reported missing from Cheektowaga on Tuesday.
"This could be as far away as we've ever had anyone wander off," Cheektowaga Police Capt. John Glascott said late this morning.
Family members were on their way to Maryland today to pick up Eberle.
Authorities still are trying to piece together Eberle's whereabouts over the 19-hour period he was missing and determine where he spent the night. He did tell sheriff's deputies in Maryland that he went there to visit a friend.
Officials said Eberle has a history of wandering off.
"We're glad that the system worked, and Mr. Eberle is OK and will be back with his family," Glascott said. "And we appreciate the work of the Frederick County Sheriff's Department."
http://www.buffalonews.com/258/story/604276.html?imw=Y
Cheektowaga man, 83, missing 19 hours, found safe in Maryland
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