Going Green Has Never Been Easier!
Jun 15, 2009 11:40 pm US/Eastern
Former Coach & PE Teacher Still Missing In Broward
LAUDERHILL (CBS4) ―
Mary Russ-Milligan feels lost. The man who has shared her life since 1983, David Milligan, is missing. Two weeks ago, 78-year-old David Milligan, who suffers from the beginning stages of dementia, left the couple's Lauderhill home and has not returned.
"I called the police and I haven't seen him since," Russ-Milligan said through tears. "I have been working ever since my husband has left. I don't go to sleep."
Russ-Milligan told
CBS4's Carey Codd she grabs a couple of hours a sleep each night then gets in her car and drives through neighborhoods all over Broward County looking for her husband. Milligan's disappearance led to the creation of an informal network of friends, family and volunteers who hand out and hang up posters throughout the county with Milligan's photos and information on it.
"He's diabetic, he has blood pressure problems and I'm just so afraid of him going into some kind of shock," Russ-Milligan said. "I feel like I'm lost. I just don't know what to feel any more. I feel like I can't help him."
For most of his 78 years, David Milligan was the one doing the helping. The Korean War veteran taught physical education and coached in the Broward County school system for 37 years. He also taught deaf and blind students. The family feared Milligan might have tried to go to St. Augustine where he grew up. However, Russ-Milligan said he did not have enough money to get there. She did contact a city official in St. Augustine to hang his poster around town.
And with each passing day that her husband of 14 years does not return home, Russ-Milligan becomes more and more anxious.
"Two weeks? Something's gotta be wrong. Somewhere something is wrong," she said.
Lauderhill Police Detective Robert Clifford is working the case and said David Milligan is well-known in the community.
"We are getting concerned," Detective Clifford said. "In my experience, within two weeks someone usually turns up and we've got nothing at this point."
Mary Russ-Milligan has people to lean on. During our interview, her sister, grandchildren and friends stopped by to support her. They also work with her each day to ask the community if they have seen her husband.
"Right now she needs us more than anything in the world," said Martha Adams, Russ-Milligan's twin. "My husband hasn't seen me at home all night in maybe two weeks."
Despite the help of family and friends, Mary Russ-Milligan feels she is on a mission. A mission to find the man who has shared her life and needs her now more than ever. For her, if that means going without sleep and hanging thousands of posters throughout Broward County, she'll do it.
"I'm not gonna stop until I find him," she said.
If you have any information on the whereabouts of David Milligan, call Detective Robert Clifford at (954) 714-4800. The family is offering a $1,000 reward for his safe return.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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