The Missing Grandmother... The Police Officer Went to the 'House' Beyond Memory

Busan Geumjeong and Busanjin Police Stations' Story of 'Joint Investigation' Finding a Dementia Grandmother

A police officer and an elderly woman are holding hands as they walk through a dark alley.
[Image source=Busan Police Agency]

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Yong-woo] Ah, the grandmother had gone to the ‘other side’ of memory. Her mind was completely erased as if by an eraser. The police officer firmly held the deeply wrinkled hand of the grandmother, saying, “Elder, now you should go home comfortably.”

At 6:30 p.m. on the 11th, an urgent call was made to 112.

It was the trembling voice of a daughter reporting that her 90-year-old “mother” suffering from dementia had left the house and had not returned.

The Busan Geumjeong Police Station, which received the report, conducted an emergency search around the reporter’s home but the grandmother was nowhere to be found.

At that moment, the police officers’ ‘instinct’ kicked in. Could she be remembering her old neighborhood? Geumjeong Police checked the grandmother’s old address and requested cooperation at the place where she had lived before moving.

Sergeant Kang Jin-young of the Seomyeon District Unit, Busanjin Police Station, recalled that the address given was a remote neighborhood lacking streetlights.

“She might be wandering alone in a dark and isolated place.” Worried that something might happen to the grandmother, Sergeant Kang hurried straight to the scene with a heavy heart.

Sergeant Kang and the other officers who responded began searching alley by alley. Fifteen minutes into the search, they spotted the grandmother wandering here and there in a dark alleyway.

The grandmother, who had to go to the house before moving that was on the other side of her memory. Despite her discomfort, she finally found ‘my home.’

Sergeant Kang asked her. The grandmother, of course, did not remember how she had found her old home.

Memories of the grandmother poured into Sergeant Kang’s heart, who had recently lost both her maternal and paternal grandmothers. Wanting to soothe her affection, she held the grandmother’s hand tightly.

Upon arriving at the district unit, they eased the grandmother’s hunger with bread and milk. Then they headed to Geumjeong-gu.

“Grandmother, if you want to see your old home again, please be sure to contact me.” Sergeant Kang Jin-young did not let go of the grandmother’s hand she had been holding.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.