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Thursday, July 10, 1997

Family remains mystified by disapperance

SALADO, Texas (AP) - The disappearance of Lela and Raymond Howard, who left their tree-shaded house here 12 days ago, continues to mystify relatives and law officers from Texas to the East Coast.

"The hardest part is thinking that they are suffering or need us and we can't get to them," said Rhonda Alford of Temple, a granddaughter.

The Howards' disappearance on a 15-mile road trip that somehow landed them in Arkansas 12 hours later has captured national attention.

Law officers were flooded with tips from as far as California and Pennsylvania on Tuesday after CBS' "This Morning" reported on the elderly Howards and their failing mental capacities.

"None has panned out," said Wayne Jordan, Arkansas State Police spokesman.

The Howards' grandson, James Stewart of Temple, is offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to the couple.

Four Texas relatives of the Howards spent the July Fourth weekend in Arkansas searching for the couple. They distributed fliers, drove back roads and questioned law officers and storekeepers.

"We went about 1,000 miles," said Lela Howard's son, Hal Ray Copeland, who lives next door to the Howards. "We searched the roads. We just drove along real slow and looked along the cliffs and in the brush."

The family is convinced that the Howards became disoriented. At 88, Raymond Howard's mental abilities have been diminished by a stroke and brain surgery after a head injury. Lela Howard, 83, recently has exhibited symptoms of Alzheimer's disease.

One deputy stopped the Howards near the small town of Subiaco for driving with no headlights. Another stopped them outside the hamlet of Plainview headed toward Fourche Junction for driving with high beams. Neither detained the Howards, unaware that the couple was lost or missing.

The roads near Plainview and Fourche Junction can be treacherous, and the family fears Lela Howard may have taken a route she couldn't negotiate.

"If that's what she did, we're just on a wing and prayer and that's all," Ms. Alford said.

With each day that passes, relatives reluctantly give up a little more hope the Howards will be found alive.

"I just don't think we're going to find them alive now," said JoAnn Alford of Belton, Lela Howard's daughter. Send a Letter to the Editor about This Story | Start or Join A Discussion about This Story
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