A Reno, Nevada, man who was reported missing in Yucca Valley six weeks ago was located alive and well Thursday, in Phoenix, Arizona, and didn’t know he had been considered missing. John Downey, 69, had hitch-hiked with a man he met in Reno to Yucca Valley. The two men arrived at the Yucca Valley Walmart about 11:45 p.m. February 7. Downey went in the store and left a short time later. When the driver who brought him to Yucca Valley couldn’t find him, he reported Downey as a missing person to Morongo Basin deputies. Deputies located video surveillance that showed Downey walking out of the Walmart parking lot toward Avalon Avenue, and he appeared to deputies to be disoriented. Video located later showed him getting into a white Ram pick-up truck towing a trailer driven by a woman at 12:15 a.m. About 9:45 Thursday morning, Downey called the Morongo Basin Sheriff’s Department; he had learned he was reported missing from his social media account, where the Sheriff’s Department had left a message asking him to call them or the nearest law enforcement agency. Downey said he was safe and in the Phoenix area. Phoenix police officers performed a welfare check on Downey and confirmed his identity and that he was unharmed. Evidently Downey had hitched another ride to Phoenix, and he has been there for the last six weeks because it was warmer than Reno. The Sheriff’s Department thanks Morongo Basin residents for their tips which helped them locate John Downey.
