Mexico Mexico - Edmond Solomon III, 66, Dementia, from Charleston SC, wandered off cruise ship, traded watch for taxi ride, Cozumel, 3 Apr 2024

[slowpoke]

This is so reminiscent of Nancy Paulikas who went missing in Los Angeles. She was in her 50s with early onset Alzheimer’s disease. At a museum, the husband led Nancy to the women’s restroom on the 2nd floor, then left to go to the men’s restroom on the 1st floor. When he came back up, she was gone, having left the museum building and onto the streets (a store’s surveillance cam caught her on camera). The husband said she had never wandered off before, if I recall correctly. Her remains were found some 10 miles from the museum over two years later, sadly.

Lesson for us all: don’t leave a person with dementia when going to the restroom. It IS a dilemma, however, for the caregiver or spouse if of the opposite sex. Which restroom to enter together? I’ve had a few incidents with my near-blind elderly father trying to guide him to use a public restroom, when he couldn’t see enough to find his way around inside. (He later developed dementia, too, but by then he was in a nursing home ). If the person can navigate and do their toileting themself, I think waiting just outside the door is best. Or use those “family restrooms”, as the ones I have seen are single toilets with a door, separate from the multi-stall large restrooms.

Back to Edmond. I hope, since he has no money and is afflicted with dementia, he is encountering kind strangers who are feeding him and helping him, so he will be located alive.

 

[KooshBall]

I can't believe he hasn't been found yet.

 

[Cedars]

Back to Edmond. I hope, since he has no money and is afflicted with dementia, he is encountering kind strangers who are feeding him and helping him, so he will be located alive.

RSBM

That's what the family were hoping, and certainly, on the little tourist island of Cozumel, he'd be so unlikely to be harmed. And everyone would know now about him being missing.

Not sure if linked on here, but there were photos and footage from his first day missing, eventually released.

There is a short video clip in the middle of this page:

Searches continue of Cozumel city, jungles, beaches, 'ghost town' to find Charleston man

Mexican authorities, search crews continue to scour Cozumel for Brad Solomon — the Charleston man who has been missing since April 3 while on cruise vacation.

www.postandcourier.com

As you might notice, he doesn't appear to be wandering confused, looking around. He's not in the town/port, in the crowds.

The family explained the kind of dementia he had, and what they believed he was/would be experiencing. But of course, no one can know, really, what's going on in someone's mind.

There were many searchers, and alleged sightings in days following, but IMO, nothing about his appearance made him look any different than the thousands of other other cruise passengers and tourists. So which sightings were true, is not known at this point. There was a claim he gave his watch to pay for a taxi to a remote beach, presumably that could have been verified by the family looking at the watch.
JMO

 

[slowpoke]

RSBM

That's what the family were hoping, and certainly, on the little tourist island of Cozumel, he'd be so unlikely to be harmed. And everyone would know now about him being missing.

Not sure if linked on here, but there were photos and footage from his first day missing, eventually released.

There is a short video clip in the middle of this page:

Searches continue of Cozumel city, jungles, beaches, 'ghost town' to find Charleston man

Mexican authorities, search crews continue to scour Cozumel for Brad Solomon — the Charleston man who has been missing since April 3 while on cruise vacation.

www.postandcourier.com

As you might notice, he doesn't appear to be wandering confused, looking around. He's not in the town/port, in the crowds.

The family explained the kind of dementia he had, and what they believed he was/would be experiencing. But of course, no one can know, really, what's going on in someone's mind.

There were many searchers, and alleged sightings in days following, but IMO, nothing about his appearance made him look any different than the thousands of other other cruise passengers and tourists. So which sightings were true, is not known at this point. There was a claim he gave his watch to pay for a taxi to a remote beach, presumably that could have been verified by the family looking at the watch.
JMO

I hadn’t seen the photos of him walking around after leaving his wife. Thank you for that link. You’re right, nothing about his appearance really stands out.

I see where it says he’s a longtime fisher, boater and surfer. I’d think he would be drawn to the water, first and foremost. If there are fishing boats near where the taxi dropped him off, they probably already checked—but fishermen love to swap fishing stories and see the catches come in. I know he has dementia, but something you’ve done and enjoyed for many years pre-dementia might still be of interest to him, maybe?

 

[annpats]

He can't just be wandering for 24 hours a day, at some point he will need to sit down, rest and also lay down and go to sleep.

So where has he been doing this?

Unless of course, he had an accident or ended up in the sea not long after he went missing.

But I think a.n elderly white American man sleeping somewhere rough in Cozumel would attract attention.

 

[Curiousobserver]

What is the point in having a tracking device that only has a range of 35 feet?!?

Well, I suppose you can tell where they are in the house....but not much use anywhere else, really!

An Airtag works via bluetooth, so the range is only about 35'. However, it will log its location as it passes any Iphone with bluetooth turned on. It is very odd that they have no other location reported from those Airtags (i.e. no other iphone passed close to him??). If he walked off the pier, odds are he passed at least dozens of iphones, and if he wandered around town he passed hundreds. Either he found a very circuitous route that avoided all people, or that Airtag ended up in the water.

 

[Curiousobserver]

An Airtag works via bluetooth, so the range is only about 35'. However, it will log its location as it passes any Iphone with bluetooth turned on. It is very odd that they have no other location reported from those Airtags (i.e. no other iphone passed close to him??). If he walked off the pier, odds are he passed at least dozens of iphones, and if he wandered around town he passed hundreds. Either he found a very circuitous route that avoided all people, or that Airtag ended up in the water.

Replying to my own message because it's too late to edit:

This article says they were able to get a couple of pings from the AirTags but then it stopped.

Large group of volunteers join search for Charleston man missing in Mexico

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCBD) – It has been more than a week since a 66-year-old Charleston man, Brad Solomon, went missing while on a cruise in Cozumel. Family members say the search is ongoing for Solo…

www.counton2.com

 

[imstilla.grandma]

March 30: Brad Solomon and his wife Mimi Hyer Solomon departed Miami for a seven-day cruise aboard Royal Caribbean's Icon of the Seas. Additional family members, including his wife's sister and her husband, joined them.

The couple spent time planning the cruise as one last journey together after doctors in 2022 diagnosed Solomon with behavioral frontotemporal dementia. The neurodegenerative disorder meant his wife increasingly became his caregiver, as well as his mother, in the past year while working full time as a nurse.

March 31: Solomon, a West Ashley native, celebrated his 66th birthday while on vacation.

April 3: Solomon and Mimi disembarked the cruise at the small tourist island of Cozumel, Mexico, on Day 5 of the trip. Other family members remained on the boat. Solomon was wearing an Apple AirTag on a lanyard around his neck that allowed his wife to track his location within a 33-foot radius.​

Around 1 p.m., the pair stopped to use restrooms on the terminal dock near a market. When Mimi stepped back into the shopping area, her husband was nowhere to be seen, Savannah Miller, Brad Solomon’s daughter previously told The Post

Authorities believe he exited the bathroom first and wandered off when he could not find his wife.


Timeline continues at link below:

A Charleston man went missing in Mexico a month ago. Here is a timeline of what we know.

Charleston native Brad Solomon has been missing in Cozumel since leaving a cruise ship on April 3; search continues to find him on Mexican island in Caribbean.

www.postandcourier.com

 

[slowpoke]

March 30: Brad Solomon and his wife Mimi Hyer Solomon departed Miami for a seven-day cruise aboard Royal Caribbean's Icon of the Seas. Additional family members, including his wife's sister and her husband, joined them.

The couple spent time planning the cruise as one last journey together after doctors in 2022 diagnosed Solomon with behavioral frontotemporal dementia. The neurodegenerative disorder meant his wife increasingly became his caregiver, as well as his mother, in the past year while working full time as a nurse.

March 31: Solomon, a West Ashley native, celebrated his 66th birthday while on vacation.

April 3: Solomon and Mimi disembarked the cruise at the small tourist island of Cozumel, Mexico, on Day 5 of the trip. Other family members remained on the boat. Solomon was wearing an Apple AirTag on a lanyard around his neck that allowed his wife to track his location within a 33-foot radius.​

Around 1 p.m., the pair stopped to use restrooms on the terminal dock near a market. When Mimi stepped back into the shopping area, her husband was nowhere to be seen, Savannah Miller, Brad Solomon’s daughter previously told The Post

Authorities believe he exited the bathroom first and wandered off when he could not find his wife.
View attachment 501111

Timeline continues at link below:

A Charleston man went missing in Mexico a month ago. Here is a timeline of what we know.

Charleston native Brad Solomon has been missing in Cozumel since leaving a cruise ship on April 3; search continues to find him on Mexican island in Caribbean.

www.postandcourier.com

Interesting, from your link:

April 7—“At about 6 p.m., a large grocery store on the island reported a sighting of Solomon. He fled when the store owner approached him, Miller said in a Facebook post. The family suspected he was staying hydrated and using restrooms at local churches.”

and

“Cozumel authorities said an earlier report of Solomon entering a cab to Isla de la Pasion, which is about 7 miles from the cruise terminal, was followed up by a report of a van returning him to San Miguel.”
===

It’s unclear to me when he purportedly returned to San Miguel in a van. Could he still be alive, and better at surviving than one would think, considering his dementia diagnosis?

 

[bestill]

Keep popping in to see if there is an update on Brad. Such a horrible situation for all involved. It would be amazing if he were still alive, I do hope his family will get some answers. Sad!

 

[annpats]

I thought of this man yesterday, and just popped by to see if there were any updates. But sadly, no.