Search Continues for Missing 73-Year-Old Wahpeton Man With Dementia

Alfred Odden, a 73-year-old Wahpeton man with dementia, has been missing for more than a week, and search teams spanning two counties had yet to locate him as of Tuesday. Security footage from a Casey's convenience store in Valley City captured Odden at approximately 8:30 p.m. on April 1, the last confirmed visual record of him. About 30 minutes after that footage was recorded, he placed a phone call from somewhere in the Valley City area, giving investigators their final known trace before he vanished.

A Silver Alert was issued April 2, the formal mechanism North Dakota uses to broadcast information about missing, vulnerable adults. Barnes and Stutsman counties, the corridor stretching from Valley City through Jamestown and into surrounding rural townships, became the primary focus of the search. The North Dakota Highway Patrol deployed aerial assets over both counties, a response that reflects how time-sensitive authorities considered the case from the beginning.

Fresh snow over the weekend complicated ground operations. The snowfall obscured tracks and covered landmarks that might otherwise guide searchers, slowing volunteer teams canvassing the rural stretches between the two cities.

Odden's son, along with other family members and friends, has been searching independently around Valley City and Jamestown alongside trained law enforcement teams. Odden was last seen wearing a purple zip-up jacket with a letter "W" on the front and tan pants. He was driving a teal Ford pickup with a red topper.

His dementia diagnosis sharpens the urgency: disorientation and an inability to self-report his location make exposure in post-snowfall conditions especially dangerous for someone in his condition.

Anyone who observed Odden or the teal Ford pickup with the red topper on or after April 1 is asked to contact Wahpeton police or local law enforcement immediately. Cell phone records and a single convenience store camera have defined the search zone so far; a public tip could narrow it further.