An 83-year-old Edgewater man who pedaled off on his bicycle toward a nearby Walmart never made it home, setting off a statewide search that ended within roughly a day when he was found safe. Victor Hugo Branes-Romero was last seen around 9:37 a.m. on August 13 near the 2600 block of Kendall Street in Edgewater, Colorado, according to police, before he rode off toward the Walmart Supercenter at Colfax and Wadsworth.
The Edgewater Police Department issued an Endangered Missing Alert for Branes-Romero after he failed to return home, and the Colorado Bureau of Investigation activated the statewide notice on his behalf. Police said Branes-Romero was not familiar with the area he was heading into, a detail that heightened concern given his age. When he left home, he was wearing dark pants, a green shirt, a white baseball cap and dark shoes, and was carrying a black backpack, according to an alert posted to the Edgewater Police Department’s Facebook page.
The Walmart Supercenter he was headed toward sits at 440 Wadsworth Blvd in neighboring Lakewood, roughly 1.5 to 2 miles west of where he was last seen, according to GOAL High School. That distance is a quick ride for most cyclists, but it also meant Branes-Romero crossed municipal lines almost immediately — a reflection of just how tightly packed the area is.
A Tiny City Surrounded on All Sides
Edgewater is a compact, 0.7-square-mile municipality bordered entirely by Denver to the east, Lakewood to the south and west, and Wheat Ridge to the north, according to Census Reporter. That small footprint means a bicyclist can cross into another jurisdiction within minutes, complicating search efforts and requiring fast coordination between local police departments…