Published: August 15, 2008 11:50 pm         

Family continues search for missing man

Family members of an 87-year-old Kansas man who has been missing for more than two weeks are asking anyone with information to call the family or law enforcement officers.

Jack Lee Howe was last seen about 9:15 a.m. Aug. 1 in the Winfield area of Cowley County, Kan., at a Dillon’s grocery store.

Howe’s dark-blue 1999 Ford Ranger extended cab pickup with white camper shell was found Aug. 2 alongside U.S. 81 in Grant County, about a quarter mile south of the state line, off the road in tall grass by a set of railroad tracks.

Howe is described as 5-feet, 8-inches tall, weighing about 100 pounds, with short thinning gray hair, brown eyes and usually wearing glasses. Howe was wearing a long sleeve royal blue shirt, light blue jeans, red suspenders and a blue baseball cap the last time he was seen. He also walks with a cane.

Howe’s neighbor, Lela Bright, reported him missing to the Cowley County Sheriff’s Office two days after he did not return from a shopping trip.

Since his disappearance, extensive searches of the area where Howe’s pickup was found have been conducted, said Grant County Sheriff Roland Hula.

Members of Grant County Sheriff’s Office conducted searches over two days, with help from Oklahoma Highway Patrol, Wichita Police Department and Kansas State Highway Patrol, two K-9 search and rescue teams, as well as aid from the Sumner County and Cowley County emergency management and fire departments.

All told, Hula said, an area a mile and half to two miles near where the truck was found was searched for any signs of Howe, but none were found.

“There was nothing we could point to with any certainty that he was still in the area,” Hula said.

Hula said his department checked with hospitals and shelters in surrounding areas, but none had any sign of Howe. He said the man’s information has been entered in the National Crime Informa-tion Center database, and any contact with law enforcement should show Howe as a missing person, as long as Howe gives his correct information.

Howe’s nephew, Ron Howe, said his uncle’s truck was found with Fig Newtons, two flashlights and the keys in it. He said his uncle would have to have the cookies every night, would not go into the dark without a flashlight and always took the keys out of his truck.

“The keys in the ignition and the two flashlights makes no sense,” Ron Howe said.

He said his uncle is a creature of habit and would not deviate from his usual patterns.

Anyone who has seen or has information about Jack Lee Howe is asked to call the Cowley County Sheriff’s Department at (620) 326-2356, the Grant County Sheriff’s Office at (580) 395-2356 or local law enforcement office.