An 80-year-old gentleman with dementia, Al Novotnak, left his Peachtree City home in the Interlochen subdivision between 2:30 and 5 a.m. early Sunday morning, and is still not home. He was last possibly spotted at the Fayette Pavilion. His wife Donna is beside herself with worry, and just wants him home for Christmas.
Three months ago, Al was diagnosed with Lewy Body Dementia. His progression has been fast. In the last week or two he is able to hold whole conversations, but may not remember where the doors are in a room, according to his wife and partner of twenty-seven years, Donna Candelaria.
“It’s a fast-acting dementia,” Donna said. “He is seeing a neurologist and on medication, which he hasn’t had since leaving home.”
Because Al is highly intelligent, a graduate of Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh, a military veteran, and a nuclear engineer, he may be able to convince others that he is fine, and that he needs to go somewhere.
A week ago he left mid-day and hitched a ride to the Sam’s Club, some 10 miles from his home. Then he got another ride home from a nurse. He remembered his address, but not what his home looked like. He got both confused and insistent. So when he got near, he wound up in a neighbor’s house. Without money, without credit cards, without a Sam’s Club Card, Al brought home a couple dozen eggs.
That’s the kind of situation that Donna fears is happening now. Al was possibly spotted at the Fayette Pavilion near Belk, asking for directions to Walmart on Sunday afternoon. But that’s the last time someone has claimed to see him.
According to Donna, “We’ve had of course wonderful response from the Peachtree City Police Department, Detective Taylor, Lieutenant McDowell and all the other people who’ve worked so hard with the drones and the hound dog blood, the hound dog.”
“I spent the morning at the pavilion in Fayetteville trying to see if I could get a sighting of him. My granddaughter and I spent the morning there driving around trying to find any trace or is see anything that might indicate that he’d been there, but there wasn’t. He is a very good kind man, very well loved by his family,” said Donna.
Where could Al be? At a family Christmas celebration last weekend, he got up to leave the room and told his family he was going to California. His son-in-law asked him what he was going to do there, and he said, golfing. So the search has broadened for Mr. Al Novotnak. He could be headed to California.Wife Donna says he can be both “persuasive and insistent.”
Al is still a person who has family who love him and appreciate his company. “We had had our Christmas party with our family the night before. He had enjoyed it immensely. The company, the food, everything. It had been a wonderful couple of days. And then he just, between 2:30 when I was up, and 5:00 AM when I was up again, he had gotten up and left the home.”
Donna does not believe that Al has any kind of identification on him, no credit cards—no one has tried to run a charge since he’s been gone. “I’m not even sure that he had shoes on. I haven’t found a jacket that’s missing. So I’m not sure that he was properly clothed to be out in 27 degree weather.”
And the bloodhound tracked his scent to the end of the street and then it disappeared. And we just think maybe he flagged someone down.”
When you look for Mr. Novotnak, know that his walking pace is to shuffle. “He is afraid of falling. And so he walks very slowly.”
“We’re trying to get some help from the people who may have picked him up to come forward and just tell us where they took him. I mean, just that anything, nobody’s in trouble. We just don’t know where he is. And it’s kind of hard to search everything in the universe because he was able to get 10 miles away the first time,” said Donna.
Police Chief Janet Moon requests that if you’ve seen Al Novotnak, given him a ride or even a place to sleep, please call the Peachtree City Police Department Dispatch Center immediately at 770-461-4357.
It’s possible that he hitched a ride with someone headed to California—or that he headed to a store. “It’s just harrowing. The entire family is devastated. We just want him to be returned to us for Christmas,” said Donna.
