Elderly Crescent City Man Went Missing from Wisconsin Motel Over Two Months Ago

Norbert Anthony Dantzman, an 89-year-old Crescent City man, disappeared from a Wisconsin motel on August 30th, 2019. Norbert goes by “Tony”, is 5’9”, weighs approximately 136 lbs, has gray hair and brown eyes, and is known to suffer from dementia and other cognitive issues. The last time Norbert was seen he wore a checkered shirt, black vest, black pants, a light colored baseball cap and his glasses. An identifying physical feature of Norbert’s is his index fingers on his right and left hands are both crooked. Also, he was wearing a ring on his right hand when he was seen leaving the motel. He left the hotel without his wallet, money, and his cellphone. A nationwide Silver Alert has been issued and his family pleads that if he is sighted, local law enforcement is contacted immediately.

According to Kasey Downey, Norbert’s oldest granddaughter, her grandfather had traveled to Winter, Wisconsin for a family reunion. Arriving on August 29, he stayed at the Winter Northern Light’s Motel along with his daughter and son-n-law. The following morning at approximately 9:00 a.m. he left the motel on foot.

Kasey Downey recounted the morning Norbert was found to be missing: “My dad was sharing a room with my grandpa. He woke up, saw my grandpa was still sleeping so my dad decided to sneak out and go get breakfast and check on my mom while grandpa was still sleeping. I believe the surveillance footage shows my dad leaving the room and then shortly afterward shows my grandpa leaving the room.” She speculates that “Grandpa probably woke up startled thinking he was late for something and got dressed and rushed out the room.”

The proprietors of the Winter Northern Lights Motel provided surveillance footage of Norbert walking away to the Sawyer County Sheriffs Department. They described the scene surveillance cameras captured: “He walked out of the motel room and went to his vehicle. He tried to open the door, and his door was locked, he couldn’t get into the car so he walked to the back of the motel and continued walking north.” Norbert’s northerly direction corresponds with a sighting of him at approximately 9:30 am near the Norwood Trailer Court ¼ mile north of the motel. Search and rescue dogs followed his scent at Highway 70 indicating someone might have picked him up.

Norbert’s family has considered many possibilities as to his whereabouts after leaving the hotel. Due to his dementia, Norbert could be unaware he is lost or missing. He was known for his physical fitness, strength, and mobility and could be trying to make his way home to California. Norbert had recently joked about “looking for a new wife” which is why his family has speculated “he could be living with someone, not aware is missing.”

Since that morning, Norbert’s family has received reports from across the country about potential sightings of him. Kasey recounted being contacted about a sighting in mid-September from someone who saw him “a few hours from where he went missing.” Law enforcement determined the sighting was not Norbert. The family was contacted recently by a woman in Tomah, Wisconsin who thinks “she saw him in the McDonald’s she works at – as recent as November 5 and again a couple of months ago.”

In mid-October Norbert’s family received reports that he was seen over 1,500 miles away at a Love’s Gas Station in Benson, Arizona. Kasey flew her“dad there to be boots on the ground when we received surveillance from the Loves gas station there that was similar enough to grandpa. When Kasey’s father investigated the area, he “found a man, Gerald I believe was his name, living there after several days that looked similar to my grandpa.” Though “some of the witnesses said that Gerald was the man they saw, others “still believed it was my grandpa.”

Over two months later, Norbert’s family “will never give up” employing any technique possible to track him down. Kasey has recently collaborated with “a gentleman from the Geospatial Intelligence Foundation in DC on getting a location-based advertisement for people who were in the vicinity of Winter, Wisconsin the weekend Grandpa went missing to target his missing person advertisements to them.”

If you see Norbert or know anything about his disappearance, contact your local law enforcement immediately referencing the Silver Alert for Norbert Anthony Dantzman, DOB 6-20-30. Other reporting options include emailing us at [email protected], or messaging us via Facebook, or call in a tip at (707)560-1543.