HILLIARD, Fla. — Heartbreaking news for a family that had been searching for their missing grandfather out of Hilliard: Nassau County deputies found 69-year-old Felix Charles dead Thursday afternoon.
Authorities say he disappeared from Dayspring Senior Living on Tuesday afternoon.
Action News Jax Stephanie Bennett met with the family when they were still hoping for the best Thursday late morning.
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“Just pray, keep God first, that’s all we’ve been doing,” Marlin Vilius said.
His family got the devastating news just a couple hours later.
Charles suffered from dementia and brain damage from a past traumatic brain injury. He’d been living at Dayspring Senior Living for the past five years, Vilius told Action News Jax.
Owner Doug Adkins says Charles walked out the front gate around 4:30 p.m. Tuesday.
Since Tuesday, Nassau County sheriff’s deputies had been searching grid-by-grid for Charles.
The search came to an end Thursday afternoon, when authorities confirmed detectives found Charles’ body in a wooded area between David Road and Dayspring Senior Living.
Adkins says Charles owned a house and had family in Eustis. He says it seemed he was trying to go home.
Earlier Thursday, Vilius had been hoping for a Christmas miracle:
“We lost our mom ten years ago, so we know who to run to, always kept God by our side, and so we’re just hoping for the best,” he said.
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Vilius told Action News Jax his family hadn’t seen Charles since 2019 because of COVID-19; they’d been looking forward to seeing him for Christmas.
Adkins says Dayspring Senior Living residents can come and go as they please. He says Charles was his own legal guardian.
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