Search for Larry Atchison, at-risk Santa Rosa man, continues 1 month after disappearance

It’s been one month since Lawrence “Larry” Atchison stepped out of his Bennett Valley home and went missing.

The retired truck driver, who was diagnosed with dementia three years ago, disappeared around 4 p.m. Feb. 27 after leaving his home on Leafwood Circle, while his wife, who he doesn’t usually stray from, was in the bathroom.

Footage from a neighbor’s surveillance camera shows him at about 4:40 p.m. walking around Summerfield Road and Horseshoe Drive, which is about two minutes from his home. That was the last time he was seen.

His wife, Cecilia Gachet-Atchison, 70, is holding tightly to her faith that her husband will return to her. But his absence has begun to wear on her.

She said she misses seeing his smiling face in the morning and feeling his presence.

“I go to our room and the room is empty and I go to the living room and the room is empty,” she said Monday, tearing up as she discussed her husband’s absence. “I went out yesterday for a little bit and it was kind of an odd feeling to get in the car by myself without him next to me.”

Gachet-Atchison said her husband is a very put-together individual. Whatever he has, he takes good care of it.

He made sure to tuck his shirt in every day before work as a truck driver and always, somehow, came home just as clean as before he left.

“How he did it, I don’t know,” she said. “He was very, very meticulous about it.”

Larry Atchison also loves old cars and has a collection of Corvettes, miniature ones, alongside miniatures of Peterbilt trucks, which he keeps in a small cabinet in the living room. He always makes sure they are placed just so, Gachet-Atchison said.

“He took pride in taking care of things,” Atchison’s stepson Pierre Gachet said.

He is witty and is always turning around phrases to make people laugh. He loves his dogs, JoJo and Zoe, and his favorite “hobby” has always been spending time with family, Gachet said.

Since Atchison’s disappearance, local law enforcement, as well as Atchison’s family members and community members, have been searching for the 64-year-old at-risk man.

The Santa Rosa Police Department and the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office — including the agency’s Search and Rescue Team — had active search parties out that focused on the Bennett Valley area for about a week before dropping those efforts until a better tip on his whereabouts is found.

The last potentially viable leads were reported in mid-March.

A person claimed to have seen him eating soup by Safeway in Novato, while a second tip claimed he was seen walking near E Street and Sonoma Avenue in Santa Rosa a few days after he went missing, said Santa Rosa police Sgt. Brandon Matthies, with the department’s Violent Crimes investigative unit.

The department did not find anything on surveillance footage from the tip in Santa Rosa and it is still following up on the Novato lead, Matthies said Monday.

While many family members have had to return to their jobs, they have continued searching different locations on weekends, switching out old flyers with new ones after the workday, organizing to put up banners and billboards and working online from different states, Gachet said.

Gachet-Atchison said the main reason she is able to maintain a positive outlook despite it being a month since her husband’s disappearance is because she has been surrounded by family and sees their efforts.

“I’ve been blessed with the most beautiful family in the world,” she said.

Atchison’s family held a vigil -- not to mourn but to encourage the continued search for their family member -- on March 12. More than 100 people attended and listened as Atchison’s relatives shared their thoughts and struggles, but mainly their hopes of finding their beloved Larry.

A Facebook group ― Finding Lawrence (aka "Larry") Atchison in Santa Rosa ― dedicated to coordinating search efforts was started and now has more than 2,500 members.

On March 19, the family passed out more than 300 bags filled with water, food, wipes and missing posters of Atchison to homeless people on the Joe Rodota Trail.

Due to the lack of leads, the family is looking into posting a monetary reward for information leading to his discovery, Gachet said.

They also have attempted to offer Santa Rosa Police Department money for a reward ― for which they have about $15,000 gathered because of a GoFundMe ― but the department only issues rewards for cases involving violence or foul play using money from Sonoma County Alliance Community Engagement and Safety Rewards Fund, Matthies said.

“It’s just not something we have set up at the police department for missing persons,” he said. “Their family is more than welcome to do that, we just can’t facilitate that.”

Gachet said the Sheriff’s Office did not cover all of Matanzas Creek in the Bennett Valley area at the beginning of its search efforts because they lacked the equipment needed to search in rapid waters, which had developed as a result of storms.

The Press Democrat sought comment from the Sheriff’s Office about the agency’s search efforts, but a representative did not respond before Monday’s print deadline.

Gachet said he has become frustrated, partially because he believes detectives and the violent crimes unit could be doing more to look into some previous leads, though he acknowledged they may be inundated with other cases.

He also said he is mentally and emotionally exhausted due to the search for his stepfather.

“You can’t just fall asleep,” Gachet said, relaying all of the variables he considers as he is about to go to bed. “What if I turned right instead of left? What if I turned left instead of right? What if I was just an hour earlier or later?”

You can reach Staff Writer Madison Smalstig at madison.smalstig@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @madi.smals.