A Nikiski woman is asking for help finding her mother, who she says has been missing since Monday evening.
Patsie Blakely said her mother, Sharon Eileen Berghone, last spoke with her on the phone around 9 p.m. on Monday. She has not been seen or heard from since and has not returned to her home on Romanov Street near the north end of Holt Lamplight Road.
Berghone turned 64 on Tuesday, Blakely said.
“When she wasn’t home, I didn’t really think too much of it,” Blakely said. “I assumed friends had come and picked her up and took her out for her birthday.”
Blakely said when she called the troopers on Tuesday afternoon, they said they would put out an alert and keep an eye out for Berghone. Alaska State Troopers Public Information Officer Megan Peters said in an email the troopers information office was short staffed on Wednesday as it was a state holiday, so details on the case have been slow to come in from troopers on the ground.
Troopers responded to the area around Berghone’s home on Wednesday to conduct a search and to contact neighbors and area hospitals, according to a trooper dispatch. A Silver Alert has been issued, and troopers returned to the property later with Nikiski Fire Department personnel and “search equipment, but were unable to locate Berghone,” according to the report.
“When adults go missing, a (law enforcement officer) alert is placed in our systems so if law enforcement makes contact with them they can verify their wellbeing,” Peters said.
Alaska State Troopers have been coordinating with the Nikiski Fire Department and cab companies and shared the case with other police agencies, Peters said.
Berghone is disabled and needs the help of a cane to get around in addition to oxygen and medications, Blakely said.
“She is on oxygen all the time and she has one to travel with,” Blakely said. “She has a bad back… bad neck, bad legs.”
All of Berghone’s medical equipment, her purse and her car are still at her house, Blakely said. During their last conversation, Blakely said Berghone didn’t indicate that she was planning on going anywhere.
Blakely and some local friends searched up and down Holt Lamplight Road Tuesday night, she said.
“I was looking for prints, I was looking for anything,” Blakely said.
Blakely asks that anyone who sees Berghone calls the Alaska State Troopers at 262-4453. Berghone is a 5-foot-3-inch woman with blonde hair. Peters said it is believed she could be wearing pajamas or sweatpants.
Reach Megan Pacer at megan.pacer@peninsula.com.
