Graham police locate missing 68-year-old man safely after search

Graham police ended a missing-person search with relief after officers located 68-year-old Eddie Darnell Brown safely, closing a case that had prompted an urgent public alert in Alamance County.

Brown was last seen around 10 a.m. Saturday in the 400 block of South Maple Street in Graham, police said. Investigators believed he may have been experiencing confusion because of a medical condition, a factor that can quickly turn a routine welfare concern into a time-sensitive search when a person may not be able to ask for help or find their way back on their own.

Officers also said Brown may have been traveling alone in the Reidsville area in a white 2017 Buick Enclave. He did not have a cellphone with him, which meant investigators could not reach him directly and could not use a phone signal to help narrow his location. Brown was described as a Black man with a white beard, wearing blue jeans and brown boots.

The Graham Police Department urged anyone with new information to call 911 immediately, the kind of fast reporting that can make the difference in cases involving older adults with possible cognitive issues. That urgency was reflected in the public bulletin, which asked residents to watch for Brown and pass along anything useful without delay. The alert was later updated to say he had been located safely.

The case also shows how North Carolina’s alert system is meant to work when memory-related wandering becomes a public-safety concern. The state’s Silver Alert program is designed for missing people age 65 or older who are believed to have dementia, Alzheimer’s disease or another cognitive impairment. The Missing Endangered Alert is used to help locate missing people believed to have a cognitive impairment and who may be endangered, with local and state law enforcement working with the N.C. Center for Missing Persons.

The center has served as the state clearinghouse for missing-person information since 1985 and says it receives more than 10,000 missing-person reports each year. It reported 288 Missing Endangered Alerts in 2025, and its 2026 dashboard listed 45 Silver Alerts, 18 Missing Endangered Alerts and one Ashanti Alert among current-year alerts. The center says most missing-person cases end with the person being found or returning home and do not involve foul play, a reminder that rapid public attention can bring a case to a safe ending before it turns tragic.