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Coffee-FlavoredSweat t1_j9pc952 wrote

> Topsham police provided an update on the search Thursday morning, saying their last known location was at an Irving gas station in Springfield, Maine, about 50 miles from the Canadian border, around 10 a.m. Wednesday. They said law enforcement agencies in northern Maine have been notified in hopes of finding them.

Last cell phone ping was in Candia, NH, and the next day they’re 250 miles away in Springfield? At least they’re still on the road and not in a ditch.

Seems reasonable that they’ll eventually run into a border checkpoint, or out of gas and actually have to interact with someone.

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Coffee-FlavoredSweat t1_j9pe3m2 wrote

I’d bet they passed through Springfield on the way to Topsfield because of their disorientation, thinking it was Topsham. Once they got to Topsfield and realized they were still lost, they may have recognized signs for Route 1 and followed that either north or south.

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Coffee-FlavoredSweat t1_j9pht3f wrote

Once the women are found, the families really need to look into a GPS tracker for the future. They make trackers that just plug into the OBDII port under the dashboard and then you can track the vehicle wherever with an app on your phone.

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DidDunMegasploded t1_j9q2ab5 wrote

Let me take it one step further: they shouldn't be driving at all.

Seriously. Even my grandfather gave up driving when he hit his late 60s, and over the years, he became afflicted by memory loss until he was almost a vegetable by the time I visited him in the nursing home in what would be the final time I ever saw him.

If these women come out of this alive, I will be utterly floored. But elderly people who are disoriented and don't have a good sense of direction should not be on the roads.

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Coffee-FlavoredSweat t1_j9q3g61 wrote

I wouldn’t go that far. There are a number of reasons why this could have happened, some of which include unbalanced medications for mental health issues.

I have a family member who is perfectly capable of driving a vehicle and getting from place to place without issue, but twice in the past decade she’s gone off her meds and there were issues. Once she drove across 3 states before she got pulled over and the officer recognized a mental health issue, the second time she was just 2 towns over knocking on a random door asking if she could buy their house.

I don’t know these two women or their situation, but I don’t think we can just assume they both have advanced dementia and belong in a nursing home, rather than just an isolated issue that can be fixed.

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procrastinatorsuprem t1_j9r6le3 wrote

They are in their early 50s and don't have dementia. If they are on meds they've probably run out since they've been missing for days.

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LawDogSavy t1_j9q90at wrote

Or at least someone show them how to use Google Maps.

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