Roscoe man still missing: one month later

Exactly one month ago, on Aug. 12, 2024, Roscoe resident Gil Wierschke, 76, wandered away from his home in the 10000 block of Marblewing Lane around 7:45 p.m. His home is south of Roscoe Road, south of Chicory Ridge, between Pine White Road and Morning Cloak Street. In the past year, his Alzheimer's disease had become more severe  According to his wife Cindy, he had been helping his brother-in-law to organize the garage.

When Gil tried to step over some boxes, his brother-in-law warned him that he might trip. Gil said, "Watch me," hopped over the boxes and walked onto the driveway. Thinking that was as far as he would go, nobody thought anything of it. His wife says, "I think he wanted to go for a walk and got lost. It was close to dark then." That was the last they saw of him.

Gilbert was wearing a blue Chicago Cubs t-shirt, blue jeans, black baseball cap, black tennis shoes, and glasses. The Roscoe Police Department is asking the public to call them at 815-623-7338 if they have information that could help in locating him.

That same evening, searching began, first by the Roscoe Police Department, the Winnebago County Sheriff's Office, then the Boone County Sheriff's Office. The family says that police used drones, an airplane with search lights, infrared heat sensors, "divers checking ponds, a boat with sonar checking the river through Ventura Blvd in Machesney Park, car patrol searches, empty buildings and barns."

The specialized Illinois Search and Rescue Council (ISARC) conducted ground searches in the area. On Wednesday, Aug. 14, dogs tracked his scent to the railroad tracks in the Gleasman Road area south of his home. But they lost the trail there. The oils on the metal tracks can overpower any other scent. He owned a smart watch that might have helped locate him, but unfortunately wasn't wearing it at the time.

To complicate things, Gil is a walker. His daughter April says, "He used to boast about walking home to Roscoe (due to car trouble) from his job at the Chrysler plant in Belvidere," where he worked 2nd shift: 3:30 to midnight - a distance of almost 20 miles. His wife says that he ran track in high school and would run around the yard just to prove he still could. He told his wife before that he wouldn't wander away again. She had warned him that people might think she couldn't take care of him and would put him in a nursing home. He replied, "They'll have to catch me first."

On social media, community members express their frustration and make suggestions. Several have done their own searches. Readers have suggested using drones and checking security cameras. Reported sightings near Hononegah High School, in Belvidere, and even farther away, have brought no fruit. A psychic said they should search for him on Stone Bridge Trail, several miles away from his home and the opposite direction from where the scent vanished.

His daughter April says, "Unlike what Alzheimers is portrayed as, he was coherent. He knew who he was, who his family was, where they lived, etc. He did NOT know things like what day it was or how to get somewhere. He struggled with dressing himself, and he could not prep food or do household tasks. He could get angry if provoked but didn't get mad/angry if he was confused." He doesn't carry a wallet and can no longer use a phone.

She adds, "He may have received help with a change of clothes or food/water, he may not have the same shoes or hat or even his glasses anymore. There are people in this world who would not mind helping with something like that but would not want to call the police."

Police added Gil to NAMUS, the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System, on August 27, but alerts went out and posters were printed almost immediately. The Roscoe Police sent an alert on Aug. 14. They asked neighbors to check their security cameras for clues on where he might have gone.

On Sept. 5, Roscoe Deputy Chief Tom Farone told us, "Mr. Wierschke has been entered into NAMUS, and I would hope any agency who had contact with him would check.  We are still investigating any information that we receive regarding Mr. Wierschke, but beyond that, I do not have any additional updates to provide."

On Sunday afternoon, Aug. 24, 2024, more than 40 people met at Roscoe Middle School to search for Gil, though without success. His daughter April wrote, "Ok, I've thought about the subject of searches... and here goes. I cannot organize or coordinate searches for him." But during the search, she and her mother bravely helped with the command center under the awning at Roscoe Middle School with extra water and a sign-in book for the searchers. Organizers say they plan to hold more searches.

Sgt. Joshua Lee, an active-duty police supervisor and professor at Grand Canyon University, says, "From a police perspective, I have seen elderly Alzheimer's patients walk for days ending up in cities 30+ miles away. I have also seen patients end up in different states by hitchhiking or taking public transit."

Experts on Alzheimer's disease agree that patients often wander looking for a familiar place, perhaps trying to get to work years after they've retired or to get home years after they moved away. So people are on the alert near the auto plant in Belvidere and near his old home at Hononegah Road and Blue Spruce. He was born in Rochelle and lived in Rockford, IL when younger.

His wife Cindy says he used to bowl at Viking Lanes and elsewhere- he sometimes splurged and bowled in seven leagues at a time. But he had to stop bowling a few years ago. With his brother, he was a partner in a golf pro shop. Together, Gil and Cindy have been selling items online for several years.

Cindy met Gil in the 1980s and  until the Alzheimer's got worse, says they rarely argued. She recalls times when she was sitting with her kittens, Gil would reach out to stroke them, not realizing he was petting her instead. Cindy found a Vietnam veteran cap for him at a thrift store. He wore it so proudly and frequently she had to get him a new one.

Cindy and Gil are members of Windsor Baptist Church. The first Sunday she went to church without Gil, Cindy says she cried throughout the service. Afterwards, she went to a restaurant with friends, where she and Gil always get Swedish pancakes. But they come two to an order, and who would eat the other one? The server brought her half an order. For now.