Durham, N.C. — Durham police are looking for a 63-year-old cognitively impaired woman who went missing from a home in east Durham Thursday night. 

The North Carolina Center for Missing Persons issued a Silver Alert for Nancy Evans Thorpe at 3:01 a.m. Friday after she went missing from a home at 3007 Dearborn Dr.

Thorpe is 6-feet tall and weighs 300 pounds. She has black hair, blue eyes and was last seen wearing a black and blue head scarf, black pants and black crock shoes, authorities said. She may have been wearing reading glasses when she went missing. 

Thorpe was last seen at 510 E. Lakewood Ave. in downtown Durham, but police weren't sure where she could be going. 

Anyone with information on her whereabouts should call the Durham Police Department at 919-560-4440, ext. 29338.

Developed in 2007, the Silver Alert system quickly notifies the public about missing endangered adults who suffer from dementia or other cognitive impairments, such as Alzheimer's disease.

It also allows caregivers and nursing homes to report a person missing. In the past, only a family member could report an adult missing.