Hope of Finding Missing O.C. Man Alive Is Fading

As the hours ticked by Friday, hope of finding alive a Laguna Beach man who never returned from his morning walk Tuesday waned.

Authorities and volunteers continued their search for Andre Mayenzet, an 83-year-old man suffering from dementia, after a witness said he had seen the burly, white-bearded man in Dana Point, about five miles from where he had disappeared.

But even using bloodhounds in Dana Point to possibly pick up his scent, nothing came of the search, Laguna Beach Police Det. Andrew Ross said.

He said the station had received about two dozen tips from people who said they had seen Mayenzet in cities such as San Bernardino, San Diego and Huntington Beach, where a woman swore she saw a clean-shaven Mayenzet sitting by the shore in a Hawaiian shirt. All the tips proved to be false.

Police used cadaver dogs to sniff around Mayenzet’s neighborhood in Three Arch Bay and the neighboring Monarch Point development. Again, nothing.

“We’re trying to remain optimistic,” Ross said, “but we need to find him soon. This weekend’s going to be extremely hot. I don’t know if he’ll be able to survive it.”

Mayenzet was last seen wearing a straw safari hat, a long-sleeved black shirt, black sweatpants and tan slip-on shoes and carrying a wooden cane. He is 6 feet 1, weighs 200 pounds and has a white beard. Anyone who sees him is asked to call Ross at the Laguna Beach Police Department at (949) 497-0369.