While it is logical to assume that police would immediately begin looking for an elderly family member who had walked 
away, family members of Estella Mozelle Pierce had to learn the hard way that was not the case, when Pierce left her southwest Detroit home in April 2005.
Detroit police officers informed the family that ?they were on their own and would have to wait 24 to 48 hours before filing a missing person?s report. Until then, no action was to be taken by the police.
Pierce?s ?son Tony, 54, of Redford Township was hurt, and felt like he had been walked on like a doormat.
Pierce wasn?t just another missing person. She was 79 and suffered from both Alzheimer?s disease and diabetes. A profile that under a new state law, requires law enforcement agencies to respond quicker when an older or at risk person disappears.
Five days after Pierce vanished, her body was discovered along side of railroad tracks, about seven blocks from her home. It was determined by the Wayne County Medical Examiner?s Office that she died of a heart attack after falling down an embankment.
As a result, Pierce?s family approached state legislators to pass a law similar to the one that created the AMBER Alert, but for the elderly and those with dementia.
On June 19, seven years after Pierce?s death, Gov. Rick Snyder signed the Mozelle Senior or Vulnerable Adult Medical Alert Act.
Under the act, police must immediately take a report regarding a missing person when a department is notified. Police must forward that information to all law enforcement agencies with jurisdiction in the area where the person disappeared.
Additionally, police must provide the information to minimally one broadcast outlet in the area. This law makes it significantly easier for law enforcement officers to input a missing vulnerable adult?s name and information into the Law Enforcement Information Network system without time-delaying verifications.
Even with the victory, the Pierce family and advocates for those with dementia argue that many law enforcement agencies and caregivers of dementia patients are unaware that the ?Silver Alert? law exists.
In Michigan, there are 273,000 people who suffer from various forms of dementia, including 195,000 with Alzheimer?s disease, according to Preston Martin, vice president of the Greater Michigan Chapter of the Alzheimer?s Association.
The association has sent out news releases and spoke to law enforcement agencies to increase widespread awareness.
State Sen. Tonya Schuitmaker, R-Lawton and an attorney, pushed to have the bill passed, claiming that in the last legislative session, 12 to 13 bills were ?signed into law dealing with vulnerable adults.
Attorney Christopher J. Berry is a Metro Detroit estate planning and elder law lawyer who helps families, seniors, veterans and business owners with their important legal needs. Oakland County estate planning lawyer, Christopher Berry is a partner in the Bloomfield Hills law firm of Witzke Berry PLLC. Mr. Berry practices in the areas of estate planning, business, probate, veterans benefits & Medicaid planning. Follow Christopher on Twitter @chrisberryesq
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