'Take Me Home' helps BPD locate missing individuals with dementia

February 20, 2025

Belton Journal

A new program implemented by the Belton Police Department is designed to help authorities locate people with dementia, autism or specific mental health needs who have wandered away from home.

The program — Take Me Home — creates a local database with photos and personal information that helps police officers find someone who is lost, according to Mary Deville, crime victim liaison with the Belton PD.

“We started working on Take Me Home last January,” she said. “We knew there was a need for it in the community, but when an elderly man with dementia went missing for two weeks last March, it became a catalyst for getting the program started in Belton.”

In March 2024, 79-year-old Rogelio Arias, who had just moved to Belton from Mexico to be with his son and daughter-in-law, went missing after going for a walk. Arias only spoke Spanish.

The man had regularly taken short walks alone, but this time he didn’t return home, according to his daughter-in-law, Esbeida Martinez.

According to Belton Police Chief Larry Berg, officers used drones and canines to search for Arias, but discovered using kayaks that he had fallen and died near Nolan Creek.

“Take Me Home is aimed toward anyone who might potentially wander away and not be able to articulate who they are or where they live,” Deville said this week.

Deville said Esbeida Martinez — the daughter-in-law — helped develop an app that would work for Spanish-speaking people and provide police with information that may help locate the missing individual.

“We have about 19 signed up for the program,” Deville said. “We had a couple more who have moved away, and we gave them copies of their loved one’s Take Me Home file to give to police in their new community.”

“A large number of those we have files on are either older folks with memory loss or young adults with autism,” she said. “Take Me Home gives police information and photos that would help get a person back home.”

To sign up a loved one for Take Me Home, visit https://shorturl.at/ qMhDn. Forms also are available at the Belton Police Department office.

The sign up form provides officers with the person’s name, birth date, ethnicity, gender, hair and eye color, height and weight, and address.

Data also includes basic information, emergency contact, and anything that could help police during an encounter, like notes about a language barrier. When a person is reported missing, officers will have direct access to the Take Me Home files to quickly know who to look for.

Chief Berg said he hopes Take Me Home changes and saves lives.

“The program strengthens our ability as police officers to protect and serve with compassion,” he said. “It ensures that every person, regardless of age or ability, feels safe and supported in our city.”

Berg praised Deville’s work with Take Me Home and BPD’s victims services department.

“Mary is a gift from God,” he said. “She has been an inspiration. Mary has passion and heart for victims. If she sees a need, she finds or designs a program to fill that need. I’ve never seen anyone so compassionate 

to help crime victims. She makes every victim feel valued.”

Deville touches base with all victims of crime in Belton to see if they may need assistance. In 2024, her department served 622 victims.

She said domestic violence, sexual assault and fraud are some of the major crimes against victims in Belton.

Another new program in Deville’s department provides used cell phones to crime victims in need.

“We started this program a couple months ago,” she said. “We accept donated phones — the city of Belton has donated some older phones that were replaced. We partner with 911 Cell Phone Bank, and the phones we provide clients can call 911 or they are like prepaid cell phones good for 60 days."