CCSO release – On October 2, 2018 at about 3:30 pm the Coos County Sheriff’s Office received a report of an elderly man, with a reported history of dementia and cancer, having been missing from his home in the West Catching area of Coos County. Richard Ellerby (78) was reported to be last seen at about 8:30 am on the 2nd at his residence on West Catching. A jogger reported seeing him at 9:30 am near his mailbox with a notepad in hand. Mr. Ellerby was reported to be last seen wearing a black Nike outfit top with a bright green three quarter zipper, black trousers and gray loafers. Coos County Sheriff’s deputies responded to the area and began hasty searches. A call was made about 4:34 pm requesting Sheriff’s Office Search and Rescue (SAR) to be notified of a possible mission. The coordinator responded to the scene and began analyzing for deployments of resources for the search. The Coos County Search and Rescue unit is an all volunteer cadre of trained persons. It is led by co coordinators Sergeant Scott Moore and Deputy Sean Sanborn. It is comprised of ground searchers and search tracking K9 teams. Many of the Sheriff’s Office deputy sheriffs are trained in managing search operations as well as basic search techniques. More information can be obtained at: http://www.co.coos.or.us/Departments/SheriffsOffice/SearchandRescue.aspx
A Coos County Sheriff’s office patrol boat was launched to search from the Catching Slough waterway by 5:13 pm. This search did not turn up any evidence of Mr. Ellerby. By 7:04 pm a SAR K9 team was deployed. Searches continued until darkness fell but no evidence of his location was found. On October 3, 2018 the Sheriff’s Office deployed further SAR resources. Currently the Sheriff’s Office has a mobile command post set up. There are two K9 teams and 11 searchers deployed at this time. This is an ongoing investigation.
