Family searches for man who disappeared from train

OMAHA, Neb. — The family of a retired California man who disappeared from an Amtrak train somewhere between Denver and Chicago last week is searching for him in Nebraska.

It’s not clear where 69-year-old Charlie Dowd left the train, but family members are focusing their initial efforts in Omaha and Lincoln because of unconfirmed reports that an Amtrak conductor may have talked to the retired firefighter Friday when the train was in Omaha.

Relatives said his health is a concern and he may have been disoriented when he got off the train because he has been without his medication since leaving the train.

His daughter, Jen Dowd, said she hopes the family can raise awareness of her father’s disappearance by posting missing fliers in Omaha on Monday and in Lincoln on Tuesday.

“We need someone to have seen him and call in that report,” she said.

Charlie Dowd, who lives in San Mateo, Calif., boarded the Amtrak train on Wednesday in the San Francisco area. His luggage arrived in Chicago on Friday, but he wasn’t on the train.

The last time family members talked to him was Thursday evening when the train was in the Denver area. Dowd was traveling to visit family in Montreal, Canada.

Jen Dowd said she is frustrated that Amtrak officials and police don’t seem to be doing more to search for her father.

“Amtrak police don’t seem to be physically looking for him anywhere,” Jen Dowd said.

Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari said the railroad’s police department is conducting an active search for Charlie Dowd, and Amtrak officials are working with local police departments along the train’s route.

Dowd is 5 feet 10 inches tall and weighs 175 pounds. He has blue eyes and gray hair.

Jen Dowd said that if her family’s efforts in Omaha and Lincoln fail to produce any new information, they plan to move east later this week and trace the train’s route to Chicago.

Anyone with information about Charlie Dowd’s whereabouts is asked to call Amtrak police at (800) 331-0008.