17-05-2025
Calera family praying for safe return of missing grandfather as search efforts continue
CALERA, Ala. (WIAT) — A massive search effort continues into Friday evening in Calera for 72-year-old Reuben Waithaka.
Calera police said Waithaka was last seen walking away from a relative's home in the Timberline subdivision around 11 a.m. on Thursday.
According to police, Waithaka is about five feet tall. He was last seen wearing khaki pants and a blue and white plaid button-up shirt.
He and his wife, Elizabeth Waithaka, are visiting from Nairobi, Kenya to see their first-born grandson graduate from Calera High School on Tuesday.
While he's never been diagnosed with dementia, the family said he seemed to be confused when they last spoke on Thursday morning.
We talked with his wife and his daughter-in-law, Mary Waithaka, outside their home in Calera on Friday morning. Elizabeth Waithaka said her husband seemed somewhat confused when he stepped outside on Thursday morning and began walking.
She said she had started to follow him but realized that she had left the door open. She rushed back to lock the door and said when she returned, he was gone.
'I'm so worried, I'm so, so worried,' she said, standing in the front yard of her son's home in Calera.
Despite their growing concern, the family has said that they remain hopeful that the search and rescue efforts will bring him back safely.
'We're praying. We're very prayerful, we're a prayerful family. Everyone is praying,' Mary Waithaka said.
Calera Police Chief David Hyche said they've talked with the individual who gave Waithaka a ride to the Chevron gas station near the entrance of Timberline subdivision. Waithaka was spotted on surveillance video entering the gas station.
Chief Hyche is asking for the public's help in case someone else gave him a ride.
'We would like to ask that if anybody else might have given this man a ride, we think that's a possibility, and actually we're hoping that somebody did that, because that would be far better than him being in the woods on a day like today for that long, being of his age and with his health problems, we're very concerned' Hyche said.
Hyche said this has been an extensive search involving multiple agencies with helicopters, drones and dogs from the Red Mountain Search Dog Association.
'We had reports from several civilians in the area that they had seen the person that met the description, so we decided to concentrate on this area,' Calera Fire Chief Sean Kendrick explained when asked about the location of the command center and the search area off of Highway 310.
This unexpected turn of events has not dimmed the family's hope that Waithaka will still get to see his grandson graduate.
'It is supposed to be a happy occasion,' Mary Waithaka said. 'But we have hope that he's going to be here and will get to celebrate.'
The search effort is expected to continue throughout the night if necessary, according to officials.
'It's been amazing. It's been overwhelming, just seeing people come out,' Mary Waithaka said.
Anyone who may have seen Reuben Waithaka is asked to contact Calera Police at 205-668-3505 or call 911.
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