(For this story, I interviewed Al’s widow Donna and Al’s sister Dorothy this morning, as we worked together on his obituary. That obituary will follow in a day or two, after the family all has a chance to edit.)
When Al Novotnak, 80 of Peachtree City, got up in the very early morning of Sunday, December 22, 2024, his Sketchers were left next to the bed. He got dressed in short sleeves, walked past his coat closet, and left the house without one of those or any shoes, despite temperatures in the 20s.
Then, as best we know, with a slow shuffling step Al wandered down the street in the dark just over a half mile until he came to a home of a neighbor in his same subdivision of Interlochen. He walked up and over their steep driveway and stepped into the backyard of their unoccupied home. The neighbors are snowbirds who hadn’t been home in weeks. He couldn’t be seen from the road, or even from the driveway.
Sadly, with muddy socks, Al succumbed to the cold, possibly a fall, and he most likely passed away before his wife Donna and the police even had a chance to begin looking.
Why would he wander like that? Al had a swift moving form of dementia called Lewy body dementia. According to the Mayo Clinic Lewy body dementia can cause visual hallucinations, trouble sleeping, movement disorders including trouble walking, cognitive function issues, and a whole host of other related issues. Lewy body dementia is the second most common dementia, after Alzheimer’s.
Just two weeks or so ago, Al was still walking his dog in his neighborhood and returning home. His decline was sudden. He was only diagnosed three months ago.
Last week, he left home without notice and was “lost” while hitching rides to and from Sam’s Club. He bought eggs. On the way home, he couldn’t remember which house was his, even though he knew his address. A search call was put out on that day, too.
Al’s wife Donna is gutted by his loss. The only comfort she is finding is in thinking that Al may have wanted her to avoid going through the worst of Lewy body dementia. “Part of me feels like he knew what was coming and he didn’t want to put me through it. Al was strong, and he was fighting. He was aware that he had Lewy body, and he knew what the result was going to be. And I think that he was trying in his kind way. I’m not sure. Maybe it’s just something I’m trying to believe, but I think he was trying to keep us from having to go through that,” said Donna.
After an extensive six-day search by the Peachtree City Police Department and associated other local departments, including at least 9 bloodhounds, Al was found. But it was a neighbor who spotted him while repairing a fence. A fence that had been under repair all week, but for the first time the neighbor had crossed over into their neighbor’s yard to fix a board.
Ultimately, Donna is not at all disappointed in the efforts of the Peachtree City Police Department or this community. She said, “I would like to speak to my gratitude. All the many, many people that participated through Facebook, through the news medias, the local news media, the newspaper, meaning you—All the people that were involved, they searched and looked for him and drove around. And mainly I would like to express my gratitude to the Peachtree City Police Department for their incredibly professional searches.”
Al’s sister Dorothy Nilsen chimed in, “And from what I gathered, they were so caring.”
“They were so caring for the dogs that came. There were nine to 11 dogs that came to look for Papa yesterday. They didn’t find Papa. A neighbor found him. I would like to end it with how grateful I am to every person who prayed, every person who looked, and especially how hard the police, the detectives, the lieutenants, and just the regular officers looked for my wonderful, wonderful Al,” said Donna.
Dorothy, who lives in Bluffton, South Carolina added, “Because obviously we couldn’t participate in the search. So it was having all those people and the animals looking for my brother, and they found him. They didn’t stop until they found him, and he wasn’t in an easily findable place.”
“I was amazed at the kindness and the perseverance of this community to find him. I mean, we had people offering to come with additional search dogs. We had people offering to let’s just set up a command area and start searching. We had a lot of love and concern. It is just amazing how the community focused on this and came together until he was found,” said Donna.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation will release results of the autopsy in as soon as three days to help fill in some of the gaps in Al’s cause of death.
Al leaves behind his wife Donna, her children he helped raise, three adult grandchildren, a sister, niece and her three children, who are his beloved godchildren. Donna and the rest of Al’s family will hold a private celebration of life for him, in accordance with his preferences, in the near future.
To celebrate Al’s life and impact on the community, Donna encourages donations in his honor to the Fayette County Humane Society, fayettehumane.org or Royal Animal Refuge, royalanimalrefuge.org.
