Newark Woman Reported Missing After Appointment At University Hospital

NEWARK, N.J. (CBSNewYork) -- A search was underway on Thursday for a woman who went missing in Newark.

Relatives said that Dorothy Williams, 80, was taken by ambulance from a nursing home on the corner of Camden Street and South Orange Avenue at 8:30 Wednesday morning.

As CBS2's Dave Carlin reported, the woman was taken to see doctors at University Hospital in Newark to have an injured foot looked at.

Nurses at the hospital informed the nursing home that she would be returning by ambulance at 2:30 p.m.

By Wednesday evening the nursing home staff realized that the woman, who suffers from dementia, had not made it back.

The woman was last seen wearing black jeans and a white hoodie. She lives in the New Community Corporation home on South Orange Avenue.

Williams is supposed to be supervised at all times, but for reasons unknown to the family she was not safely transported back to the nursing home, and is out there somewhere.

"We have to find her. It is very important to everyone. Please, please," Jackie Ceola said. "It's hot. She has not eaten, she's on medication, she's frail, she is disoriented. At this point she cannot be aware or happy with her surroundings."

The family said officers from the Rutgers and Newark police departments have photos of the missing woman and are looking for her.

Family and friends said dozens of people will show up at the house outside the hospital at 10 a.m. Friday to search the neighborhood block by block.

A front desk worker said no one was available to comment on the case Thursday night.