Sevier News Messenger Sevier County News and Opinion
An elderly woman with Alzheimer’s who went missing from Gatlinburg on Thursday has been found dead along a rural road in North Carolina.
The Gatlinburg Police Department announced that 73-year-old Sylvia Ringstrom, of Gatlinburg, the subject of a Missing Adult Alert, was found deceased in her vehicle on Friday evening about 30 miles away from where she was last seen.
Ringstrom suffered from Alzheimer’s disease and police had been searching for her since she drove away from a Glades Road public restroom in a green 1995 Toyota pickup on Thursday, June 23, 2016, leaving her husband behind.
According to police, 911 dispatchers in Haywood County, N.C. received a call around 7:47 p.m. on June 24, 2016 of a pickup truck off the roadway on Forest Service Road near the intersection of Mt. Sterling Road. Local police and North Carolina State Highway Patrol Troopers responded and found a green Toyota pickup off the roadway along a curve with Ringstrom deceased inside.
“Our hearts go out to the family of Mrs. Ringstrom during this difficult time,” said Gatlinburg Police Chief Randall Brackins.
The accident remains under investigation by the North Carolina Highway Patrol. While Ringstrom’s cause of death has not been determined, police say foul play is not suspected.
