NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — It’s been nearly 5 months since 85-year-old Lucy Buchanan was last seen.
The mother and grandmother, who police say has early symptoms of dementia, has been the subject of a Silver Alert since December 2021.
Earlier this year, Metro police released surveillance video showing Buchanan leaving her Buena Vista Pike apartment and traveling by the Walgreens on Clarksville Pike.
In the video, she's seen wearing khaki-colored pants, a white puffy style coat, white toboggan and a gray scarf on November 24, 2021.
Police report her family was in contact with her by phone over the next several days and then her phone died.
Those two videos are all detectives have and MNPD Cold Case Unit Detective Anthony Chandler said there have been no other sightings.
He’s asking the community to really pay attention to the videos and notice the clothing.
She also had a flip phone and had her keys on a lanyard, so there could be a chance she stumbled onto someone's property and dropped an item.
He said no detail is too small.
“It might have been somebody you just saw at the gas station and just never thought anything about it. When you see her picture, it triggers a memory. It may be somebody you saw walking out a particular street, anything along those lines to give us an idea of the next location. She went beyond what we already know from video surveillance is vital to the investigation,” Detective Chandler explained.
Chandler has taken the lead on the investigation and for him, this has been a unique case. He said usually when you have someone missing with dementia, somebody will see something.
He said sometimes it's been a family member that went to pick them up and just forgot to tell everyone else, but that hasn’t been the case in this investigation.
Buchanan hasn’t been seen since last November, but Metro Police have received quite a few tips. They just haven’t turned into any leads.
Chandler doesn’t want to discourage anyone from calling in information though, even if you think it may be nothing it could connect another piece of information.
Previously, her family told NewsChannel 5 that police received a tip about Buchanan getting into a gray van outside her apartment the day she went missing. Detective Chandler said they located the driver and verified it was a friend that routinely picked her up for church. Investigators talked with the driver, who said they hadn’t been in contact with her, so detectives were unable to get any new information.
Anyone with information on her disappearance is asked to call Metro police at 615-862-8600 or Detective Chandler at 615-862-7843.
