Updated at 10 p.m. Aug. 12, 2015
An abandoned car belonging to a 76-year-old man suffering from dementia, who went missing July 22 in Oceanside, was found Wednesday in a desert area of Lake Los Angeles.
Nickolaos Christidis’ black 2015 Honda Civic was found about 10 a.m. in the area of 155th Street East and Avenue H-6 locked and stuck in the soft sand in an area not visible from the road, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
A ground and aerial search turned up no signs of Christidis, and officials said there was no evidence of violence or foul play where the car was found.
Christidis was last seen on July 22 at 3536 Strawberry Place near College and State Route 78 in Oceanside, according to officials. He left a note found by his daughter that said he would not be home until late.
The next morning, Christidis’ ex-wife called him, and he told her he was in Escondido and would be returning home in 15 minutes, Oceanside police Lt. Leonard Cosby said.
About two hours later, the man’s daughter telephoned him, and he told her he was “in the desert” and would be home in an hour. When she tried to contact her father again that afternoon the call went straight to his voice mail, Cosby said.
Investigators later confirmed that Christidis was in the Kern County town of Rosamond on July 23, but there have been no subsequent sightings of him.
Christidis was described as a 5-foot-7-inch, roughly 175-pound white man with gray hair and brown eyes.
Anyone who might be able to help detectives track down Christidis was asked to call Oceanside police at (760) 435-4911.
— City News Service