According to deputies, 57-year-old Harry Jones walked away from the James Rest Home, an adult-care facility in New Hill, near Apex, Wednesday afternoon.
A search began by air and on the ground around the rest home -- using a sheriff's office helicopter, K-9 units and all-terrain vehicles -- into the early hours of Thursday without any sign of Jones. Thick brush in the area may be hampering search efforts.
The search resumed around 8 a.m. Thursday.
Jones suffers from diabetes and recently had a stroke. Officials say he may be disoriented and afraid.
"He's non combative. He's a fairly nice guy. You can approach and talk to him," said Det. Terry Hake of the Wake County Sheriff's Office. "He may have slurred speech and may appear to be intoxicated or under the influence of narcotics, but that is not the case. It is his mental condition."
Jones is black, with brown eyes, standing 5 feet 9 inches and weighing around 140 pounds. He is bald, has a slender build and walks with a limp. He was last seen wearing a pink shirt with a white T-shirt underneath and green pants.
"We're every optimistic, still," Sheriff Donnie Harrison said. "He could have been picked up by a car and that's why we are appealing to the public if someone picked him up and gave him a ride."
Jones has family in the Wendell area. Harrison says Jones may be trying to get to them.
"Somebody said he wanted to go home and was a little irritated. Who knows -- that may the direction he is headed," Harrison said.
Anyone with any information about his disappearance or whereabouts is asked to call police or the Wake County Sheriff's Office at (919) 856-6806 or (919) 856-6911.
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