DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — A woman diagnosed with dementia went missing on her way to church, and members of the congregation have joined the police in the search for her.
Ernestine Merritt, 79, walked out of her home early Sunday morning and hasn’t been seen in more than 72 hours as of Tuesday morning.
She never made it to Greenforest Community Baptist Church, Channel 2’s Steve Gehlbach reported on Channel 2 Action News This Morning starting at 4:30 a.m.
People have been out in force every day searching for her.
“We might be old, and we might be walking with canes and sticks, but we gonna keep on waking till we find her,” Coffield insisted.
Merritt’s doorbell camera captured her leaving her home on Yolanda Trail Sunday morning at 4:22 a.m.
Channel 2’s Tom Jones went along as DeKalb County Police, Georgia Emergency Search and Rescue and Merritt’s church members searched in the Bouldercrest area of Ellenwood for the woman known as Erni on Channel 2 Action News at 6:00 p.m.
“She thought she was going to church,” her cousin James Robinson said.
Merritt doesn’t own a car. She had moved into her home back in November.
“She was thinking she was at her old apartment. And the church is closer to her old apartment,” her cousin Sonya Robinson said.
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Search crews knocked on doors and searched wooded areas in the hopes of finding her.
Her church members are urging people everywhere to search their property to make sure she isn’t there.
“Look in your backyard. Look everywhere. Just take a few minutes, cause you never know,” Coffield said.
Merritt’s cousin says he just wants her home.
“I love her, and I want her back real bad,” said James Robinson.
She is 4 feet, 11 inches, and approximately 120 pounds with white and gray hair. She was wearing a black fur coat when she left her home.
Call 911 if you see her.
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