Largo police search for missing woman with dementia

LARGO -- Police are appealing for help in their search for a woman with dementia who has been missing from an assisted living facility since Tuesday afternoon.

Mary Gill Zelter, 86, voluntarily signed out of the Royal Palms assisted living facility at 300 Lake Ave. about 1 p.m. She was last seen driving her 2003 white Chrysler Sebring convertible away from the retirement home. Her credit card was used to make a purchase at an Albertsons grocery store at East Bay Drive and Belcher Road about 1:30 p.m., police say.

Zelter suffers from dementia and high blood pressure and left Royal Palms without her prescribed medications. While police said she is not in danger from not taking her medicine, they are concerned that because of her dementia she could become lost, hurt herself or suffer from exposure to cold weather.

"We're beside ourselves," Zelter's daughter, 54-year-old Mary Lalucci of Belleair, said this morning. She fears that this might not be a case of a senior citizen wandering off but that someone might have harmed her mother.

"As of Tuesday night, when it got dark, she would have reached out for help," she said.

Although Zelter does have dementia, she can get around on her own, was allowed to sign herself out of Royal Palms and had improved enough to make other short trips to the store in the past month, Lalucci said.

Zelter, a retired registered nurse and travel agent, has lived at Royal Palms about four months. Before that, she lived in Venice. Lalucci said it's possible that she might try to return to Venice.

"The Venice police and her old neighbors are all on the lookout," she said.

Zelter is about 5 feet, 3 inches tall, has a thin build and white hair. Her car has a black top and a Florida tag, CZ 103. Police ask anyone who sees her or has information about her to call (727) 587-6728 or 587-6730.

- Times staff writer