National appeal to find 84-year-old Costa woman with Alzheimer's who hasn't been seen since last week

Since last Friday afternoon when she was last seen near her home in Torrox-Costa, the Axarquia town has turned its attention to trying to locate Virtudes Rodriguez, an 84-year-old resident who suffers from Alzheimer's disease.

After some initial searches involving a canine unit from the Local Police of Malaga force, members of the Local Police in Torrox, the Guardia Civil, who are investigating the case, and Civil Protection volunteers have redoubled their efforts this Tuesday (10 October) to try to find her whereabouts.

Due to her illness, it was thought that she may have lost her bearings and may have been on a farm or in a rural area of the extensive municipality of Torrox. However, another line of investigation suggests that she may have boarded one of the buses that pass along the coastal strip of the town. For this reason, a national appeal has been made to try to find her.

According to the Mayor of Torrox, Óscar Medina, the police are continuing their search "all over the municipality". Special teams from the Civil Guard in Seville have joined the search using helicopters, drones and specialist dogs. Meanwhile, the state security forces, who have taken charge of the search following a request from the relatives, "are investigating in case she is outside Torrox", he explained.

In addition family members, local residents, volunteers and people who have no family ties with the missing woman are also helping in the search. Medina wanted to convey "all my support" to the people involved in the search for Virtudes Rodríguez.

Virtudes was last seen at midday last Friday, 6 October, in the Mercadona area of Torrox-Costa, on her way home. At the time, she was wearing green trousers and a blue T-shirt. She is described as 1.64 metres tall, has a slim build, with grey and brown hair and brown eyes.

However, "the problem is that we do not know if she is in Torrox, or outside the town, so I ask from here the greatest spread of the information, not only locally but in all the neighbouring villages and towns throughout the province of Malaga," said the local mayor.

In addition, he has appealed to those residents of Torrox who own rural houses and plots in the countryside, to check their properties in order to find her.

"We suspect that due to her Alzheimer's and her memories of her life in the countryside and her youth, she may have wandered into a property," explained a niece of the missing woman on her social media networks. "For us to search the entire municipality is an arduous and time-consuming task, but if everyone searches their own plot of land, we are almost certain that we will find her," said the relative.

The SOS Desaparecidos Association has made two telephone numbers available to the public to provide information about Virtudes' whereabouts: 649 952 957 and 617 126 909. They also have an email address info@sosdesaparecidos.es. Alternatively, the emergency services can be contacted on 112.