- Lewis County Sirens.com - https://lewiscountysirens.com -

Volunteers begin searching Morton for missing man

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

Police and volunteers are searching around Morton today hoping to find a 76-year-old man who failed to return to his assisted living facility on Friday.

2012.1230.lawrence.thorsteinson.trim_2 [1]

Lawrence W. Thorsteinson

Lawrence W. Thorsteinson apparently has minor dementia, he takes medication for it, according to Morton Police Department Chief Dan Mortensen.

Mortensen said Thorsteinson has lived at Heritage House for the past couple of years and has no family in the area.

He was reported missing about 9:30 p.m. on Friday.

Thorsteinson was last seen around noon on Friday at Heritage House at 860 W. Main Ave. and also during the same time frame trying to check into Roy’s Motel a few blocks away, but he had no money, Mortensen said.

Police have contacted his known acquaintances and the businesses he frequents in town and no one has seen him, according to the chief.

When last seen, he was wearing a brown hat, a brown sweater or jacket, a red shirt and jeans, according to police. He is 5-feet 10-inches tall, weighing about 190 pounds with gray hair and brown eyes.

Police initiated an automated call yesterday to about 900 homes in the area with no results, Mortensen said.

Mortensen said some volunteers from Chehalis are expected today to check the wooded areas around town.

Jennifer Mau, a Morton woman who runs a private group called Search and Seek, said she is looking along the banks of the nearby Tilton River and had about three or four individuals answer her call to meet at Gus Backstrom Park at 11 a.m. to look for Thorsteinson.

The volunteers include a private contractor from Longview who conducts searches with dogs, three of which are in Morton today, according to Mau.

Mossyrock resident Coleen Reeder whose father lives at Heritage House learned of the search parties this morning and is packing up her husband and three teenage boys to head out to help.

Chief Mortensen said law enforcement officers have pretty well scoured areas in town and it’s possible Thorsteinson got on a bus or was picked up by a friend and gone somewhere.