New Westminster police are following a new lead in the case of a missing head-trauma patient who walked away from the hospital wearing just a gown and slippers.
Gavin Deloes, 41, was in a car crash on Friday. He left Royal Columbian Hospital alone early on Sunday morning and has not been seen since.
A passerby found a number of personal items belonging to Deloes on Wednesday evening in a green space behind the Salvation Army Cariboo Hill Temple in Burnaby, police said.
Those included socks, slippers and a hospital gown, an iPod and mouthwash.
A dog unit searched the area until darkness and challenging terrain became unsafe, police said.
“The New Westminster Police Department, Coquitlam Search and Rescue, and family and friends of Mr. Deloes continue to search the area around the Cariboo Hill Temple today,” said police in a media release.
“This area is a large green space that includes a trail network that runs between the residential area of Cariboo Heights to the south, Highway 1 to the west, and the Cariboo Temple to the north.”
Deloes is described as five-foot-11 with a slim build, short black hair, and may only be wearing black boxer shorts.
He was last seen by witnesses around 8:15 a.m. Sunday near Holmes Street and Garfield Street, and then again between 12:30 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. in the parking lot of Cariboo Road Christian Fellowship church.
His family says they has many questions about how he was able to leave the hospital alone in a hospital gown and slippers.