Deputies continue to search for a missing 81-year-old man who vanished from his assisted living facility.

Maynell Scott left Belvedere Commons of Tampa off Fletcher Avenue around 7 p.m. on Saturday. He suffers from dementia.

  • 81-year-old man walks out of Tampa ALF
  • Maynell Scott suffers from dementia, according to family
  • If you see him, HCSO asks that you cann 9-1-1

 “We called to tell them we were on the way to visit him,” said Yvonne Willis, Scott’s daughter. “And they started crying and said ‘I’m sorry, we can’t find him right now.'”

Willis says the caretakers said he had been missing for about an hour at that point. Deputies haven’t been able to pinpoint an exact time yet.

Immediately, the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office used boats to search nearby lakes and even deployed bloodhounds to try and track Scott’s scent.

Monday, Deputy Mark Montano continued the tedious task of pouring through hours of surveillance video from nearby businesses.

With the family looking on, Montano had reassuring words.

“He is my grandfather, too, until he is found,” he told them.

So far, deputies have reported sightings of the great-grandfather at the Batteries Plus off Fletcher. They believe he could have also walked past the Marathon Gas station directly by his assisted living facility.

“We are going to check every last frame of video made available to us,” Montano said.

With the blazing heat and inclement weather over the weekend, Scott’s family is worried for his safety. They say if anyone could survive it, though, the former engineer and merchant marine would be the one.

“Wherever he’s at, I hope he’s using those MacGyver skills to survive, to find some water, and a place to stay,” said his granddaughter Michelle Perez-Reinaldo.

Scott’s family has posted flyers and talked to anyone they can near the area where he vanished, in hopes his picture jogs someone’s memory.

“The more ground we cover, the better chance we have finding him. Obviously time is of the essence,” said Perez-Reinaldo.

Scott has a Caymanian accent, so his family says he could be hard to understand at first. But he is very friendly.

Deputies say he could be anywhere, from a local business to sitting in someone’s backyard.

He was last seen wearing a light blue, long-sleeve button down shirt with gray dress pants.

The family wants answers as to how Scott was able to leave Belvedere Commons without anyone noticing. But their first priority is finding him. They’ll ask questions later.

“That’s my father," said Willis. "The love of my life. He’s taken care of us all our life, and now I will take care of him too."

If you see Scott, deputies are asking you to call 9-1-1. He will likely need medical attention.