Missing California Man May have Fallen From Train in Western Nebraska

By: Stephanie Morrissey - Email

Updated: Wed 5:12 AM, Sep 19, 2012

A search party is scheduled for Tuesday, Sept. 17 at the Lincoln Amtrak Station at 3:00. Anyone interested in helping is invited.

Click HERE for the Missing Person: Charlie Dowd Facebook page.

If you have information about his whereabouts, please call:

Amtrak Police: 800-331-0008 (reference case #12-010695.)

Dowd Family: 650-766-6470 or 650-357-1914

Description of Charlie Dowd:
DOB -3-11-1944
Age: 69
Sex: Male
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Gray
Height: 5’10”
Weight: 175

The family of a retired California firefighter who disappeared from an Amtrak train says it now appears that he may have fallen from the train somewhere in eastern Colorado or western Nebraska.

Charlie Dowd's family members had been organizing searches in Omaha and Lincoln for the 69-year-old San Mateo man because they believed he may have mistakenly gotten off the train at one of those stops.

But Jen Dowd said Tuesday Amtrak police told the family a passenger on the California-to-Chicago train saw Dowd standing near a train door Thursday night. Another passenger later found an exterior door ajar around 11 p.m. Thursday.

Jen Dowd says the search for her father will now focus on the 160 miles of track between Fort Morgan, Colo., and McCook, Neb.

Charles is without his medication and may be disoriented.

Mr. Dowd left the San Francisco Bay Area on Amtrak (Train 6) on Wednesday, September 12.

He was last heard from via cell phone, by his son, Kevin Dowd, of Montreal Canada, on Thursday, September 13, at approximately 6:30 p.m. mountain standard time. Charlie did not arrive in Chicago as scheduled, but his luggage, cell phone, and medication did.

A Facebook tip said Charlie had been seen near 66th and Havelock streets on Sunday. His family traveled to Lincoln searching for him in that area.

"It's quite a distance I hear from the train station which would make sense because it's been four days," said Jennifer Dowd, Charlie's daughter.

It is urgent that Charles Dowd be located as soon as possible as he is under physician’s care. Anyone with information is asked to call the Amtrak Police or the Dowd family, and reference Amtrak Police case number: 12-010695.

"I would tell my dad that I love him. We are here to find him and bring him home safely," Dowd said.