South Carolina man vanishes from cruise after getting off at popular port of Cozumel, Mexico

A beloved dad’s family has sifted through false leads and hit dead ends over the last five days after Edmond Bradley Solomon III vanished.

The 66-year-old Charleston, South Carolina, family patriarch was last seen on April 3, when a Royal Caribbean cruise ship stopped in the popular tourist hot spot Cozumel, Mexico.

Minutes after getting off the ship, he went to the bathroom and disappeared, according to his family, who said he was recently diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia, a group of diseases caused by progressive nerve cell loss that affects a person’s behavior and not memory.

“No major updates. Many false leads today,” his daughter, Savannah Miller, said Monday morning from Mexico. “It is very distressing for us to have hope and then be let down.”

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Solomon was on a Royal Caribbean cruise with his wife, Mimi, when they stopped in Mexico, where they planned to spend the day. 

He went to the bathroom around 1-1:30 p.m., minutes after they got off the ship. 

“When my stepmom, Mimi, came out, he wasn’t there,” Miller told WCBD-TV. “She thought he might still be in the bathroom, so she waited for him for a few minutes. He didn’t come out.”

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Solomon spent his life caring for others as a VA critical care nurse. He retired after 20 years, Miller told Fox News Digital, and his wife is also a nurse at a local VA hospital and a breast cancer survivor. 

“Please, everyone, no matter where you are, continue to spread the word,” Miller said. “We are begging you to share this on socials, so that we can increase awareness and gain more news coverage. The more people who are aware, the quicker we will find him.”

Solomon’s family is in Mexico looking for him. Miller provided an update on Facebook late Sunday, saying her dad’s AirTag – “if he is still wearing it” – is only 33 feet from his wife’s phone. 

“My dad walks really fast, and he does not have eyeglasses on like he usually does,” Miller said. “He will often nod his head down and focus on the ground while walking. The more anxious he is feeling, the quicker he goes.”

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Over the last few days, local police and the retired nurse’s family have been scouring Cozumel, an island in the Caribbean off the coast of Mexico. 

Miller said her family and police followed “several leads” to no avail. The most promising tip came at around 6 p.m. on Sunday, when someone thought they had seen him at a large grocery store. 

However, she told Fox News Digital that police investigated the tip, but it did not lead to anything. “After three hours of driving and walking the surrounding areas, we were not able to find him,” she said.

Solomon III’s tendencies

Solomon “has a generally calm or apathetic attitude, and will probably refuse help if offered, especially from a stranger,” Miller said. 

She and her family are worried that this trait, coupled with his fast-paced walk, makes him look like he is heading somewhere “with conviction.”

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“But he is not,” Miller said. “He is lost and scared. He cannot show or process emotions like a healthy person would. Unfamiliar people or situations are intimidating to him. He does not know how to respond and will avoid.” 

She said everyone in Cozumel has been helpful and kind to her and her family as they navigate through the stormy waters. 

In the United States, Missing Persons of America, a Facebook group created by a military family, created their own missing person flyers. 

Family and friends set up a GoFundMe for the family. 

“Between cancer and dementia, (Mimi and Solomon III) have been through so much in the last few years and yet Mimi still shows up every day to take care of others,” the GoFundMe says. “Please help take care of Mimi and Brad.”

Miller said anyone in Cozumel should send tips to the Cozumel police. 

For anyone in the U.S., “we ask that they continue to share the story and sentiments about my dad if they know him to raise awareness and to stay positive.”