News 12 at 6 o'clock, July 4, 2009

AUGUSTA, Ga.---Family members, investigators and search crews from two states continue to look for Elizabeth Bert, a missing elderly woman who walked away from her personal care home on Wrightsboro Road Thursday morning. She was last sighted in the Buckhead neighborhood a few miles away.

Bert's diabetic and has Alzheimer's and as now search crews are turning to you for help.

It's been three long days of searching for Bert in this brutal heat. Exhausting and worrying search crews who wonder how long she'll be able to survive.

Canine search and rescue teams working day and night in nearly 100 degree heat.

"It's almost like looking for a needle in the haystack, but we hope we can find that needle," says Alzheimer's Association Volunteer Kathy Tuckey.

Three days of investigators, family members, and volunteers all hoping to find 85-year old Elizabeth Bert alive.

"As time goes by it gets worse and worse and it gets more critical and so we're hoping we can locate her as soon as possible," says Richmond County Sheriff's Sergeant Calvin Chew.

"I know how she got once before when her sugar was low and she didn't have her insulin. She was kinda weak, disoriented, didn't know where she was, who I was," says Randy Williams, Bert's son.

Rudy Newman was walking his dog Thursday morning when he saw Bert walking near his home. Right now investigators believe he's one of the last people to see her.

"She walked out in front of me so she was ahead of me on Clarkston. I walked behind her for a short distance and then I turned off in my yard," says Newman.

Rudy says a lot of people walk in the neighborhood and nothing about Bert alarmed him.

"She was walking kind of fast but she didn't look like somebody who was confused. She looked like she was going somewhere," says Rudy.

Richmond County investigators set up their mobile command center, getting ready for a long search with very few clues.

"We've already gone to several homes in the neighborhood, gone door to door, but now we're going to expand our search even further and go to more neighborhoods in the surrounding area," says Sgt. Chew.

They're asking homeowners to check and double check their garages, backyards, and anywhere Bert might have gone to get out of the heat. Bert is a diabetic with Alzheimer's, but her family isn't giving up hope.

"Right now I just wanna get my mama home," says Randy.

Those search crews are looking for more volunteers. If you'd like to help in the search you can meet them at that mobile command center. It's on Lexington Way in the Buckhead neighborhood on Belair Road. They will be out there tonight and first thing in the morning.

If you saw Elizabeth Bert, or helped her get somewhere, call the Richmond County Sheriff's Office at (706) 821-1080.