Glenn Stevenson

submitted

GHEEN- The search for a Willow Valley Township man with Parkinson’s disease who went missing this past weekend was ongoing as of Tuesday, with the St. Louis County Sheriff’s Office and Rescue Squad continuing to try to track down leads.
Sixty-three-year-old Glenn Stevenson was last seen walking on the Willow River Rd., approximately one-quarter of a mile south of Gheen on Saturday at approximately 9:52 a.m., according to a sheriff’s office release.
A ping of Stevenson’s cell phone indicated it was in the Gheen area, but it could be anywhere within a three-mile radius. Stevenson has not answered the phone, and it is unknown if it was still in his possession at the time of the ping.
Friends and neighbors have also been actively involved in the search for Stevenson, according to his sister, Kathy Stevenson, who talked with the Timberjay on Tuesday to provide more details.
Stevenson, who lives west of the Hwy. 53/Willow Valley Rd. intersection, said that when she went to the Cook Farmers Market on Saturday she took Glenn along to visit his girlfriend in Cook.
“He seemed happy when I dropped him off,” Stevenson said. “A half-hour later his girlfriend called and said he was starting to act belligerent and could I come bring him home. So, I left the market and went and picked him up, and he was definitely belligerent.”
Belligerent is one of the last words friends would normally use to describe Glenn Stevenson. One described him on social media as “the kindest, sweetest person you’ll ever meet.” Kathy Stevenson said he’s “pretty mellow” and described his behavior on Saturday as “very unusual.”
On the way back home, Kathy decided to stop at the house of one of Glenn’s friends, Gary Bundy.
“As soon as we stopped, he got out of the car and took off,” Kathy said. “I asked Gary to go look for him because all my stuff was still back in Cook. Gary was going to go toward Glenn’s house because that’s where he thought he was going.”
But Glenn had headed in a different direction.
“I got out on Hwy. 53 and there was Glenn, heading south on 53 a quarter mile down the road already,” Kathy said. “I pulled up behind him, honked the horn and opened the window and hollered and he turned around and looked at me and kept walking. So, I drove back and asked Gary to go get him because I figured Gary is bigger than me so he could handle him better. He argued with Gary, but Gary did get him in the car and they went back to Gary’s.”
Meanwhile, Kathy went back to the farmers market in Cook to collect her things, and feeling tired, she went home to rest, apparently believing Glenn had returned to his home as well.
On Sunday she went to Glenn’s house to check on him and discovered he wasn’t there. Upon contacting Gary, she learned that Glenn had taken off again from Gary’s on Saturday. Glenn had been seen walking toward old Gheen, and Gary called another of Glenn’s friends, Brad Carver, to see if he could get Glenn.
“Glenn cussed at Brad and told him to go away and wouldn’t get in the car and he just kept walking,” Kathy said.
Gary had called 911 on Saturday about Glenn, and Kathy then made another 911 call to report him missing.
Kathy believes Glenn’s aberrant and oppositional behavior was due to either an overdose or lack of his Parkinson’s medications. According to the Parkinson’s Foundation, up to 30 percent of those suffering from the disease may experience hallucinations and delusions that can develop as a result of a change in medication or as a symptom of an unrelated infection or illness.
Kathy said she prepares Glenn’s medications for him but isn’t certain if he’s always taking them correctly.
“He’s been on a level even keel for most of the summer,” she said. “But last week he was thinking he saw his grandson at his house, which is kind of a harmless delusion. But Saturday he was angry at everybody and thought we were all trying to lock him up. He was basically running away from us.”
The Parkinson’s Foundation categorizes what Kathy called a paranoid delusion as severe.
Kathy said it’s typical for Glenn to come out of a delusion after about an hour, and that he’s aware right away of what has happened. She speculated that it’s possible he hasn’t come out of Saturday’s episode.
The search has involved a lot of footwork, and has included dogs and drones, but as of Tuesday no sign of Glenn had been discovered.
Kathy is holding out hope that Glenn will turn up safe and sound. She put up flyers in Cook and Orr on Tuesday.
“He’s probably running away from people because he thinks we’re going to do something to him,” she said. “But he pretty much knows everybody around that area. I just hope he’s sitting in someone’s kitchen drinking a beer. Somebody’s cabin that doesn’t have internet or TV.”
Glenn Stevenson is approximately 5’10” tall and weighs approximately 130 pounds. He was last seen wearing a tee shirt under a green and blue flannel shirt and blue jeans. The sheriff’s office is asking anyone who may have information related to Stevenson’s whereabouts to call 911 and reference case 23129421.