The disappearance of a 74-year-old man from Nova Scotia, Florida, remained unexplained Thursday despite a major search effort in Hernando County, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) north of Tampa on the Persian Gulf.
The Hernando County Sheriff said Richard Packe disappeared Wednesday at 7:45 a.m. local time.
Paket and his wife recently traveled to Florida from Nova Scotia in their silver-gray van.
Around 7:30 a.m. Wednesday, a resident of the Hermosa Beach coastal community called police to report a strange van parked in her driveway.
“When she went to look at the vehicle, there was an older woman in the vehicle. And I think she was still asleep. And she woke up when the resident came out and asked, “What are you doing in my driveway?” Said Denise Moloney, a public affairs officer at the Hernando County Sheriff’s Office.
The couple’s dog was still in the van, but Pake was gone, and his wallet and cell phone remained.
The Hernando County Sheriff’s Office has announced that a large-scale search has been launched for the missing man from Nova Scotia. (Hernando County Sheriff’s Office)
Moloney said the couple returned to the driveway around midnight.
“Houses in Hernando Beach are on stilts because of the hurricanes,” Moloni said. “So when they came in the night before, no one knew they were there.”
Moloney said canals run through the neighborhood, with most homes running on deep waterways.
Search by land, water and air
“We searched tirelessly here … The moment the deputy went up to the scene, the search started. And we kept adding and adding to that,” Moloni said.
“We had our deputies on foot in the area, deputies running the area. We made them use drones. We had our helicopter there … The Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission had a plane to help us.”
Denise Moloney is a public relations manager at the Hernando County Sheriff’s Office in Florida. (Jack Julian)
But by Thursday, the search had proved fruitless.
Tracking dogs, including greyhounds, were unable to detect the trail. Calls to local hotels and hospitals were negative.
Police used side-scan sonar to clean underwater canals.
“It’s a deep channel. And the alley where they parked, their backyard is the canal. And because we searched all the land and didn’t find them, we’re looking for the water in the hope that it didn’t fall into the water, “Moloney said.
Unanswered questions
Moloney said there were still questions about what led to Pake’s disappearance.
Moloney said the couple had two brief contacts with police the day before they disappeared.
On Tuesday, they were involved in a minor car accident in Brooksville, a city of just over 7,000 people.
The couple remained unharmed and soon left.
At about 10 pm, police received a call for a reckless driver in the parking lot of a restaurant and bar in Hermosa Beach, about half an hour’s drive from Brooksville.
It turned out that the driver was Paket, who was speeding on the plot and was close to a collision with pedestrians and another vehicle.
But because the couple looked good and posed no further risk, the police released them.
“Deputies released them because we have no right to detain them if they do not do something wrong or if they do not pose a danger to themselves or others,” she said.
The family was “mad” by the disappearance
Moloney said the couple’s children confirmed that while their mother was confused, Pake was healthy when he left Nova Scotia. They were “a little dumbfounded” by Pake’s actions, Moloney said.
“They advised us that he did not have any medical or mental problems,” she said.
Moloney said employees are extremely concerned because missing people are usually in their small community for a few hours.
She said Pake’s wife has since contacted friends who live about an hour from Brooksville, and she stays with them as the search continues.
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