‘We just hope she’s found’: Family of missing N.B. senior trying to stay hopeful

The family of missing 79-year-old Ruth Carol Sutton are working with RCMP to confirm whether the woman seen in recent CCTV footage is the New Brunswick resident.

The video shows a person wearing a blue coat walking towards a ferry beside the water in Grand Bay-Westfield — the Saint John suburb where Sutton disappeared on Sunday.

RCMP are also looking for input from the public.

“We’re wondering, anyone that was around that area on Sunday afternoon … that may be holding something in their right hand, walking the area, reading maybe. Was that person you?” said Const. Patrick Jolin-Rodrigue, incident commander, on Tuesday.

“Because if the person was not Carol, well, it’s important for us to know because right now we’re directing some efforts into that area because it’s evidence to us. It’s a likelihood that this is Carol walking towards the ferry.”

Sutton, who goes by the name Carol, is described as five-foot-two-inches tall, 130 pounds, with white hair and blue eyes.

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Sutton was last seen shortly after 9 a.m. Sunday on Mallard Drive, wearing a blue jacket.

She may be disoriented due to a medical condition.

Carol’s daughter told Global News she was shocked by the outpouring of community support.

She encouraged people to act fast if someone goes missing, saying early reports improve the chances of finding them.

She also hopes Canada will adopt a silver alert system, which is a tool that helps locate missing seniors, especially those with cognitive impairments such as Alzheimer’s or dementia.

Sutton’s extended family have searched tirelessly for her over the last three days.

“Our hopes are to find her safe and sound, but realistically we just hope she’s found,” says family member, Stephanie McIntosh Lawrence.

Investigators have expanded the search radius from 300 metres to several kilometres.

“The way that I see it is, until I’m satisfied that she’s not on the ground in the area we’re searching, well, this search is gonna go on,” said Const. Jolin-Rodrigue.