LAGUNA HILLS : Missing Man Found Unhurt Outside Mall
A 57-year-old man missing for three days was found alive and well at a city shopping mall Thursday morning, according to Laguna Hills police.
Detective Dan Stack of the department’s missing-persons unit said police received a call Monday morning from Parkview Terrace, a Laguna Hills board and care home, about the disappearance of one of its residents, John Kay Sorensen.
Bloodhounds, a helicopter and about 20 officers searched the neighborhood for Sorensen, who suffered a brain injury several years ago and has the mental capability of a young child, Stack said.
A Laguna Hills patrol deputy found Sorensen about 10:30 a.m. Thursday, asleep in bushes in front of the JC Penney store at the Laguna Hills Mall, about a mile from the home. He recognized Sorensen from a missing-persons alert put out by the police, said Stack.
Sorensen, reportedly in good health, told the deputy he was planning to go north to visit family. He had a small bag filled with personal items, but how he fed himself is unknown, Stack said.
“Physically, he can do anything, but mentally . . . he couldn’t tell you his name,” Stack said. “I have no idea how he survived, but he must have eaten.”
Stack said it was no surprise that Sorensen was found at the mall because he apparently “liked to be around people.”
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