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Search for missing woman, 86, widens across nation

Her daughter goes on TV shows, hands out fliers and advocates a silver alert.

By Richard Danielson, Times Staff Writer
Published March 4, 2008

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A Pinellas County sheriff's helicopter searched parking lots, ponds and wooded areas for a missing Largo woman's car, but neither that nor a spattering of new tips panned out Monday.

Mary Zelter, 86, has been missing since Feb. 26, when she signed herself out of the Regal Palms assisted living facility in Largo.

About half an hour later, her credit card was used to buy about $30 worth of merchandise at the Albertsons grocery store at East Bay Drive and Belcher Road.

She has not been seen since, nor have her bank or credit cards been used again.

So while Zelter's daughter worked Monday to publicize her mother's case on the Today show and Good Morning America, she also prepared for the worst.

"We feel now that we have a pretty high risk that we lost our mom," said Mary Lallucci of Belleair. "How can she be alive if there's been no evidence of her for six days?"

Lallucci said, " I don't know that," but added that it's a possibility her family is getting ready to face.

Over the weekend, Lallucci and her family marshaled scores of volunteers to pass out thousands of fliers. That generated some tips - such as a possible sighting at a Publix in Palm Harbor - but no solid leads.

Zelter, a retired registered nurse and travel agent, has lived at Regal Palms about four months.

She suffers from some near-term memory loss and high blood pressure, but her family said she functioned well enough to be allowed to sign herself out of the assisted living facility.

Before moving into Regal Palms, Zelter lived in Venice in Sarasota County. Authorities believe she might try to go back, so they have sent bulletins there, too.

So far, police have "no indication that there was any foul play or crimes involved in her disappearance," Largo police Lt. Michael Loux said.

One thing they don't know, however, is just what happened at Albertsons. Police are not saying what Zelter purchased, but they also haven't seen whether she was alone or was being followed in the store.

The store has video surveillance, but because of an apparent problem with the system, the store did not have usable video of Zelter's purchase, Loux said.

***

As they have tried to publicize their mother's disappearance, Zelter's family members have pointed out that Florida, unlike states like Texas and Illinois, does not have a version of the amber alert system known as "silver alert."

On Monday, family members talked up the idea of a silver alert system with the offices of two Pinellas legislators, Lallucci said.

Officials with the Florida Department of Elder Affairs and Florida Department of Law Enforcement were not familiar Monday with any past proposals to create a silver alert system.

And, they said, it might be harder to tell in cases of some adults who have disappeared just how alarmed the community and law enforcement should be.

"With children, you know they're missing because they're supposed to be with someone," said Frank Penela, spokesman for the Florida Department of Elder Affairs.

As of Monday, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement had been notified of 424 missing people older than 60 statewide, FDLE spokeswoman Kristen Perezluha said.

That's not all the missing older people in the state. Rather, it's just the total cases that local law enforcement agencies have reported to the FDLE.

***

In addition to some states' silver alert programs, at least one private organization stands ready to raise alarms about missing elderly people.

A Child Is Missing, a national, nonprofit organization based in Fort Lauderdale, responds to law enforcement requests to send out automated telephone bulletins about missing children, elderly and disabled people and college students missing from campus.

The organization responds only to requests from law enforcement agencies and sends recorded messages about missing people to listed telephone numbers in the area where the person disappeared.

Depending on the area to be covered, the nonprofit can send out a few dozen calls or thousands. In one Las Vegas case, it sent out tens of thousands of calls in four different waves, said communications director Todd DeAngelis.

"Anytime our phone rings and it's law enforcement on the other end of the line" with someone missing from one of those four groups, he said, "we are certainly there to help."

How to help:

Have you seen this woman?

Mary Gill Zelter, 86, is about 5 feet 3, has a thin build and white hair. Her car is a 2003 Chrysler Sebring convertible, white with a black top, with Florida tag CZ 103 and a small European flag decal on the rear bumper. Largo police ask anyone who has information to call (727) 587-6728 or 587-6730.

[Last modified March 3, 2008, 21:12:39]