Family desperate to find missing Ancaster senior with dementia

In late June, days after Denise Gloster went missing and was found 17 kilometres from her rural Ancaster home, her family gifted her an Apple watch.

So that if it happened again, we'd know where to find her," said Kyra Paterson, Gloster's daughter.

Gloster, 78, has early-onset dementia, is not very vocal and has trouble hearing. An avid walker, she's worn the watch every day, leaving it to charge at night. Paterson said it gives her family peace of mind.

But Gloster vanished again on Halloween night, this time from the bed she shares with her longtime husband.

He found the watch charging on a bedside table.

When my dad woke up at seven in the morning, she wasn't there," said Paterson. She didn't take the watch. We don't know where she is."

Hamilton police say Gloster was last seen in the area of Mineral Springs and Slote roads, where she lives on a one-acre property with her husband.

The senior is described as five-foot-five and 130 pounds with shoulder-length grey hair. At the time of her disappearance, she is believed to have worn Brooks running shoes, and possibly black and pink apparel.

Paterson - who said her mother was sleeping when her father joined her in bed at 10 p.m. - said Gloster is prone to take long walks with no clear destination.

The first time she disappeared, on June 27, Paterson said her mother had gone to the front of her forested property where she often picks up sticks. When she didn't return, her family called police. She was found safe six hours later when a homeowner in the hamlet of Troy, nearly two-dozen kilometres away, spotted her.

Paterson said having a family member with dementia comes with a slew of challenges - but the disappearances, and the antsy wait that follows, is the toughest.

This is the second time, but the waiting around ... it's pretty rough," she said. We're worried."

Police deployed several resources to rural Ancaster on Monday, including ATVs, action and canine units, and Argo's (off-road vehicles that operate on land and water), said Const. Krista-Lee Ernst.

Ernst said a command centre has been set up in the area of Mineral Springs and Slote, where volunteers can help police in their search efforts.

The running community, the biking community, anyone out for a walk or circling rail trails, we're asking you span your eyes and be mindful," she said.

Police are asking anyone with information about Gloster's whereabouts to call 911 or 905-546-8965.

Sebastian Bron is a Hamilton-based reporter at The Spectator. Reach him via email: sbron@thespec.com