A coordinated search for a Lawrence woman now missing for three weeks has been canceled, but her family and search organizers ask people to please keep looking for her.
Wanda Dyer, 74, is 5-foot-2 and 117 pounds. She was last seen wearing a black coat with pink lining and blue, patterned pants. She was carrying a black backpack.
She was reported missing from her Lawrence home on Friday, March 21. The last confirmed sighting of Dyer with photo or video evidence was that evening in Eudora.
Wanda has stayed in good shape, and she loves to walk. But “She’s suffering from dementia. It’s suddenly gotten a lot worse over the last couple of months,” Dave Dyer, her husband of 46 years, said last month. (Read more about Wanda and the search thus far in the articles linked below.)
If you see Wanda Dyer, call 911 immediately.
Other info can be reported to dispatch:
785-843-0250.
Dozens of people showed up for coordinated search efforts in Lawrence and De Soto over the last couple of weekends. A third search that was scheduled for Saturday has been canceled, organizers announced Friday afternoon.
Search organizers have been working with EquuSearch Midwest, a group of volunteer specialists who work with law enforcement and communities to find missing people, to coordinate the searches.
Dave said he was told Friday that the absence of any photos or videos of Wanda since March 21 means that searchers would only be going over the same grounds they’ve already covered, and they weren’t sure what to do. “It’s disheartening,” he said.
“We will schedule another search if we have a confirmed sighting of Wanda,” Jill Ihde, one of the Lawrence community members who has been leading search efforts, wrote in a Facebook post Friday. “PLEASE continue to share her flyer and ask people to check their cameras in confirmed sighting areas.”
Organizers are using a “Bring Wanda home” Facebook group to keep the community updated. It has grown to almost 1,700 members since it was launched on March 27. Ihde encouraged people to keep an eye on the group for updates.
Wanda grew up in Kansas City, and Dave said Friday that police have been searching for her in the areas where she lived and went to school.
“It’s a real mystery that, like I said, she’s not showing up on any security cameras or anything anywhere,” Dave said. “Kansas City police are looking for her. There’s some flyers up everywhere; my wife’s cousin has been putting up flyers all over town.”
If you see Wanda, call 911 immediately.
If you have other information about Wanda’s location, call the nonemergency dispatch line at 785-843-0250.
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Mackenzie Clark (she/her), reporter/founder of The Lawrence Times, can be reached at mclark@lawrencekstimes.com. Read more of her work for the Times here. Check out her staff bio here.
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Tricia Masenthin/Lawrence Times
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