Search Continues for Missing Man
Police and family members continued their search Tuesday for an elderly Laguna Hills man who disappeared almost a week ago. Relatives reported Clifford H. Swift, 81, missing Thursday after he failed to return from a trip to the Sears Auto Center at Laguna Hills Mall about 11 a.m., said his wife, Jean. He was driving a two-tone gray Mercury Marquis.
The Orange County Sheriff’s Department received a call Tuesday from someone who said he might have seen Swift driving eastbound on the Garden Grove Freeway from the Brookhurst Street exit Saturday about 5 p.m., Lt. Hector Rivera said.
Nancy Cole, Swift’s daughter, said her father is healthy and not taking medication, although sometimes “he gets confused.” Cole, 51, of Laguna Beach, has been putting up fliers with photos of her father around Laguna Hills.
Swift had cash and a credit card when he disappeared; police placed a stop on the credit card, which he has not used, Jean Swift, 77, said.
“I hope he’s drinking water and eating something,” she said of her husband of 57 years. “I wish he would come home.”
Police said Swift is 5-foot-10, 140 pounds, and has gray hair and blue eyes. He was wearing a black sweater, a gray shirt, dark-blue pants, black shoes and steel-rimmed glasses.
Anyone with information should call the Orange County Sheriff’s Missing Person Detail at (714) 647-7055 or the watch commander at (714) 628-7170.
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