Tustin : Public Asked to Help Find Alzheimer’s Victim

Authorities Friday asked the public for help in finding a 59-year-old victim of Alzheimer’s disease, a dimpled man wearing a Hawaiian shirt who wandered away from his Tustin home more than a week ago.

Police are hoping that they will find the former Hawaiian prizefighter during the weekend among the 300,000 people expected to attend the Orange International Street Fair in Orange, where they believe he has been seen.

Louis Rosa--who answers to his boxing name, Chico--has been missing since 10:30 a.m. Aug. 18, when he left for a morning walk from the home on Alder Lane that he shares with his sister.

Tustin Police Detective Jim Hein said Mona Grochow, the sister who cares for Chico, reported him missing that night.

Rosa has brown, curly hair, brown eyes, is 5 feet, 2 inches tall and weighs 145 pounds. He wears a medical alert tag, and his Social Security number is tattooed beneath his left arm, Hein said. He said Rosa also has “noticeable dimples.”

Rosa was last seen Thursday wearing the same blue print Hawaiian shirt, brown pants and black shoes he was wearing when he left home, Hein said.

“We’re receiving a lot of random calls, and the information they’re giving matches up,” Hein said. “So we’re hoping officers out there, armed with flyers and pictures of him, will help us find him.”

Because the disease creates memory loss and disorientation, Hein said, Rosa doesn’t know where he lives and might not even recognize pictures of himself on the flyers, much less his sister’s last name.

Police asked that anyone with information call the Tustin Police Department.