Driver Found Safe, Confused 250 Miles Away

An 89-year-old Laguna Hills man who disappeared three days ago while driving home from an auto repair shop was found Thursday 250 miles from home, hungry but unharmed.

California Highway Patrol Officer Joe David found Ted Adams sitting in his stalled 1978 Cadillac El Dorado at 5:30 a.m., pumping the brake pedal, about 40 miles west of Needles on Interstate 40 near the Arizona border.

“He thought he was still moving,” David said. “He had been sitting there three or four hours, max. I think he just drove it until it ran out of gas.”

David said Adams was scared and shaking when he found him and that it took about 15 minutes to calm him down. But once comforted, David said, Adams “was ready for the next move.”

“I’m sure he had no idea where he was at or where he lived,” David said. “And he couldn’t remember how he got out there. He said he was out looking for his wife.”

His 87-year-old wife, Alice, was relieved to hear the news but a bit angry.

“What do you mean going off like that?” she said she told her husband in a brief telephone conversation soon after he was found. “I was kind of mad by that point,” she said.

“Well, I was busy,” she quoted him as saying.

“He’s forgetful. He doesn’t know what he’s doing half the time.”

Instead of driving the five hours to retrieve her husband, Alice Adams called a nephew in Kingman, Ariz., about 60 miles away. The nephew, Phil Mattson, picked up his uncle, had the Cadillac towed, and drove him to Kingman. He planned to return his uncle home by the weekend, Alice Adams said.

David said Adams probably hadn’t eaten or drunk anything since he was last seen Tuesday at about 3:45 p.m. He disappeared as he was following a neighbor home from an auto repair shop, where the two men had picked up Adams’ car.

After Adams was found, David took him to a Denny’s Restaurant, where he juiced up on bacon, eggs, white toast and coffee. And lots of water.

Alice Adams said her husband of 14 years has never done anything like this before and even dislikes leaving their home in the Leisure World retirement community. She said that he has no medical problems and that this incident can simply be explained by his age.

“Not everybody gets to be 90, you know,” she pointed out.

“I feel wonderful that he’s OK. Thank goodness. I’ve just been going crazy. I’m so relieved, I’m going to try to get some sleep today.”

She said she plans to keep an eye on her husband for a while. But for now, she is thinking of canceling a surprise party for his 90th birthday Sept. 17.

“I got the hall and called a caterer and invited the people,” she said. “But I’m not going to have it now . . . because he’s so vague and forgetful. I don’t think he’d even know the people anymore.”

Long Way Home Ted Adams, 89, of Laguna Hills, who disappeared Tuesday while driving home from an auto repair shop, was found Thursday morning on Interstate 40 near Needles. He was hungry but unharmed.