Laguna Man, 83, Who Went for Walk Is Missing

Dozens of people, many of them strangers, have banded together this week in Laguna Beach, posting fliers and knocking on doors to help find an 83-year-old man who went for his morning walk Tuesday and never returned.

Andre Mayenzet, who suffers from dementia, is a popular character in his Three Arch Bay neighborhood.

Two to four times each day, the Switzerland native would put on his tan safari hat, grab his wooden cane and hike a mile up a steep, winding road to the top of a hill near Badlands Park. At the top, he would rap his cane on a wire fence to signify “victory,” said his daughter, Maria. “His walks were the one thing that gave him joy.”

Many who witnessed his frequent pilgrimage called him “Papa Hemingway” for his white beard and burly body.

Laguna Beach police said they collected video surveillance from a nearby home that showed Mayenzet heading up the hill at 4:58 a.m. Tuesday. He never walked back down, leading authorities to believe he tried to hike the steep trail over the hill.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, search-and-rescue teams rappelled 300 feet into ravines, unleashed bloodhounds and conducted helicopter searches.

On Wednesday night, two people who received a missing-person flier called Maria Mayenzet to say they had seen her father.

One man said he saw him Tuesday, once at a shopping center near Alicia Parkway and Pacific Island Drive and again in the Monarch Point neighborhood. A woman said she had seen him Wednesday evening, slumped on a short wall in the same community.

Family, friends, neighbors and strangers have joined Maria Mayenzet in her search, distributing more than 300 fliers and looking throughout South Laguna for her father.

She said she was gratified by the amount of help she had received. Friends arrived from Carlsbad to ride mountain bikes on nearby trails. A local woman mobilized members of her church. And a salesclerk who sold flashlights and other rescue supplies to Maria Mayenzet showed up with her boyfriend later that day, ready to help.

Andre Mayenzet was last seen wearing a straw safari hat, a long-sleeved black shirt and black sweatpants. He was carrying a wooden cane and wearing tan, slip-on shoes. He is 6 foot 1, weighs 200 pounds and has a gray beard.

Anyone who sees him is asked to call Det. Andrew Ross at the Laguna Beach Police Department at (949) 497-0369.