MARIETTA, Ga. — Dozens of good Samaritans who jumped into action to try to help find an 89-year-old missing from an assisted living facility are left heartbroken.
Patricia Miele was last seen alive at the Greenwood Place Assisted Living and Memory Care facility in Marietta last Friday at 11 p.m. She wasn't reported missing until 9:30 a.m. the next day.
"I just couldn't imagine," Charity Salyers, one of many in the search party for her, asked. "How could she just walk out that door and nobody see it?"
She was compelled to help search after grandparents had Alzheimer's and issues with their memory. The outcome left her at a loss for words.
"It was almost like she was the community grandmother. I would just die if one of my grandparents were missing," Salyers said.
Miele's disappearance tugged at the community's heart. Search parties worked over the weekend, hoping they'd find her alive.
"When we met at the Marietta High School parking lot, there were probably 50-60 people there at that time. They separated us into groups of 6 and gave us locations to go to. We even handed out dozens of flyers," Salyers said.
Her group ended up at the cemetery less than a mile from the facility. She says they searched over three times while police were there. They even looked at the pond where Miele was found dead Monday.
"We just kept searching this area. Something just kept telling me that she was there. It's just so sad that we were all right here and didn't find her and then the next morning she was found," Salyers said.
Marietta police say the delay in reporting her missing and the fact that the facility does not have cameras, so there is no security footage of Miele leaving the facility, are both red flags.
"I feel like she was failed in some way. I don't know what happened and I pray that there was no foul play, no nothing. But it just makes you wonder," Salyers said.
Right now, it's still unclear what led the 89-year-old to the water at Kennesaw Memorial Park, but investigators are thoroughly looking at the case. Those who searched wish they could've saved her.
"I'm sorry that we didn't find you before you made it down to this pond," Salyers said during an interview at the cemetery. "I feel for her family. I would just like to say to her family that I'm sorry, but the community, we did what we could do, we did our best to find her," Salyers said.
11Alive reviewed dozens of police reports for the Greenwood Place Assisted Living and Memory Care facility over the last 10 years, finding that most were for theft of property or drugs. There were a few troubling instances of sexual abuse and assault/battery.
Police confirm another resident went missing from the facility years ago. That woman was found safe in the woods behind the facility. Investigators say they looked in the same area this time around.