DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — Crews were back out at a metro Atlanta park on Wednesday as crews continued to search for a missing former educator.
Ernestine Merritt, 79, vanished Sunday morning after she left her home in Ellenwood on the way to church.
Channel 2’s Tom Jones was out at Panola State Park in neighboring Rockdale County on Wednesday as officers searched for her there after getting a tip.
Merritt’s church members, Jones that officers informed them that they got a tip about a possible sighting of the former educator on Wednesday afternoon.
The tipster thought they saw her in the Panola State Park area.
Jones saw a DeKalb County detective searching the restrooms there. He said search crews were in other parts of the park searching as well.
Earlier in the day, Georgia Emergency Search and Rescue crews pulled out their ATV and put a drone in the sky in an effort to find Merritt.
They searched near her home and in the surrounding areas.
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“We’re gonna go back over certain sections that have already been checked, but we need to go back over them again,” GESAR owner Angel Alonso said.
Jones also saw police back out in the community where Merritt vanished after she left her home on Yolanda Trail at 4:22 a.m. on Sunday.
She has dementia and was attempting to walk to church.
Her family believes she was confused and thought she still lived close to her church.
Greenforest Community Baptist Church pastor Christopher Waters said it was a church member who realized Merritt had vanished.
“One of our deacons came to pick her up, and that’s when we found out she was missing,” Waters said.
Merritt’s video doorbell captured her locking up her home and leaving.
Jones was with Merritt’s cousin as she went to churches and passed out flyers with Merritt’s smiling face on them.
At one location, a woman appeared very concerned. “That’s your mom?” she asked Robinson. Robinson replied that it is her cousin.
“She got dementia?” the woman asked.
When Robinson said yes, the woman stated, “My mom got it, too. So I know.”
Meanwhile, Waters met with members of his congregation for prayer at Merritt’s home.
“Everybody is praying. Is concerned. And we’re all praying, number 1, she’s safe. And certainly, that she could be found.”
The park where police were searching is about 15 minutes from Merritt’s home.
Anyone with information on her disappearance is asked to call DeKalb County police at 770-724-7710, or you can call 911.
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