An elderly Bakersfield man with Alzheimer's Disease is now safe, after he disappeared last week.
Juan Mendoza suffers from mild Alzheimer's Disease. He left his home where he lives with family members last Thursday to go for a walk, but he didn't return.
That is, until his family got a tip from a stranger four days later.
"They seemed like an eternity, very sad. We all tried to comfort each other knowing that, trying to be positive, trying to think, we are going to find him, we are going to find him." Adriana Mendoza recounts the days after her grandfather left their south Bakersfield home.
Immediately, Mendoza's family began sharing his picture on Facebook, asking anyone with information to call.
They thought he might be in the Arvin area.
But, it was a tip from much farther away that finally led them to Mendoza.
"The fourth day we got a call from a girl in Ventura. She said she was just with him and he was asking for a place to stay because he was heading home. By him saying that, we knew right away he was heading home to Oxnard. That was his home for many, many years. So for us, that was what he was searching," said Adriana Mendoza.
The picture was re-shared on Facebook so many times that the woman in Ventura saw it and recognized Mendoza.
The family immediately jumped in their car and drove there to search.
The next morning, a police officer in Oxnard called, saying they had found Mendoza and he was safe.
Mendoza is now home with his family.
They haven't gotten much information out of him, except that he says a friend took him there. But, his family thinks Mendoza may have hitchhiked.
