APOPKA, Fla. – After four days of searching, deputies say they're confident a missing elderly man with dementia is not in the immediate area of the Apopka neighborhood where he was last seen.
Alfred "Sugarfoot" Pearson, 75, left his home near the intersection of Hermit Smith Road and Highway 441 around 4 p.m. Sunday.
"We've been here working around-the-clock.
All our detectives (with) all our units and specialty units and we have not located him here," Orange County Sheriff spokesperson Ingrid Tejada-Monforte said.
Detectives in charge of the investigation made the decision to shut down the mobile command center after they said all available resources were used to canvass hundreds of acres.
"This case this week was more intense because of his age (and) because of his condition," Tejada-Monforte said.
While people living in the Apopka neighborhood will no longer see an active search in the area, deputies said work will continue behind the scenes and their expanded search is far from over.
"We will continue to investigate. We're not giving up and we're being hopeful that we will bring him safely back to his family," Tejada-Monforte said.
Anyone with information on Pearson's location is asked to call the Sheriff's Office at 407-836-HELP (4357).