How detectives traced a man with dementia found alone in England back to Southern California

Two years ago, an elderly man with an American accent was found wandering around a British bus station parking lot disoriented.

It took much detective work, but authorities now say that man is Earl Roger Curry, a 76-year-old Whittier man suffering from dementia.

The case has generated intense interest in England this week after the BBC aired a documentary examining how Curry appears to have been abandoned so far from home.

Curry was returned to the United States by British authorities last year and is now in a Los Angeles-area nursing home.

According to documents filed by the L.A. County Public Guardian, the county is seeking conservancy of Curry. “No one in his family is prepared to accept responsibility for him,” the document states.

The BBC documentary alleged that Curry’s family simply left him in England, though no charges have been filed against them. The BBC interviewed Curry’s son, who denied he had anything to do with abandoning him, The Times could not reach family members. The Public Guardian documents note these allegations.

For months, Curry sat in a nursing home in the heart of England as British police scoured the world with Interpol’s help. All he could recall was his name was “Roger Curry,” according to the BBC documentary. He was found wearing newly purchased clothes from British retailer Tesco.

With few clues, investigators made an international public appeal last March for help identifying the man.

Web sleuths around the globe began searching for answers. One woman came forward to say she had gone to high school with Curry.

Authorities eventually figured out that Curry lived in Whittier, where some neighbors told the BBC that he often roamed the neighborhood in a disoriented state.

The L.A. County Public Guardian said it is examining the circumstances of how Curry came to be abandoned in Britian.

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