Two missing men found, one alive and one dead

The man found alive was found in an apartment across the hallway and taken to a hospital.

Rick Metzger, who went missing Jan. 8, was found alive in a vacant apartment across the hallway. (Everett Police Department)

Rick Metzger, who went missing Jan. 8, was found alive in a vacant apartment across the hallway. (Everett Police Department)

EVERETT — Police on Monday reported that the searches for two missing men with Alzheimer’s have ended with different outcomes.

One was found alive; the other had died.

A missing Everett man was found safe Monday, a week after he went missing. He was discovered in a vacant apartment across the hallway.

Rick Metzger, 65, walked away from his home around 4 a.m. Jan. 8, in the 10700 block of Evergreen Way, according to Everett police.

He had recently been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. A public bulletin announced he might have tried to make his way to Mukilteo.

On Monday morning, an employee at Metzger’s apartment complex found him in a neighboring unit that was supposedly unoccupied.

Police aren’t sure how long Metzger had been there, or how he got in, He was confused, disoriented, likely dehydrated and likely hungry, said Everett officer Aaron Snell.

He was sent to Providence Regional Medical Center to be examined.

The body of Paul Yoshiara, 75, was found Saturday.

A Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office helicopter rescue team located the body around 10 a.m. that day in a grassy field near the Lowell-Snohomish River Road, sheriff’s Lt. Rick Hawkins said Monday.

There were no signs of trauma or foul play, Hawkins said.

Yoshihara was last seen around 10 p.m. Jan. 7. He was in his home in the 4500 block of Lowell Snohomish River Road. His wife woke Jan. 8 to find him gone.

Searchers wondered if he might try to visit the couple’s former home in Everett, which has since burned down. The property is in the 2800 block of 128th Street.

Yoshiara typically didn’t leave his residence without being accompanied, the sheriff’s office reported. Tips poured in from the community about possible sightings. In one report, a caller thought to have seen him at a fast food restaurant in the Quil Ceda area in Marysville.

Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446; stevick@heraldnet.com.

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