MORGANTOWN — On Wednesday afternoon, the Monongalia County Sheriff’s Office posted on Facebook that claims on social media that 68-year-old Lorna Phillips had been found are false. She is still missing and detectives are continuing to investigate.
Phillips is described as about 5’7”, about 130 pounds with green eyes and blond hair. She was last seen on Feb. 11 after being released from Mon Health Medical Center in the late afternoon or early evening, according to the Monongalia County Sheriff’s Office.
Anyone who sees her or has information on her location is asked to call 304-291-7260.
She was reported missing by Joseph Sweeney, her friend of 35 years. Sweeney has lived in California since 2008 but still regularly talked to Phillips, he said.
Sweeney told The Dominion Post Phillips did disappear for a few days about three years ago and was found at a hotel after he received a call from an unknown number and called it back. The man who answered said he let Phillips borrow his phone and that she was staying at the hotel.
After that incident, she spent time in Chestnut Ridge.
Phillips is a “gentle soul” and worked at J.W. Ruby Memorial Hospital for 33 years before retiring and working as a greeter at Walmart, Sweeney said.
He said Phillips is having a hard time dealing with the August death of the woman she lived with, who owned the trailer where she lives. Sweeney said Phillips is worried about having to move in a few months since the trailer is being sold.
Carolyn Johnson, Phillips’ neighbor at Fairfield Manor, said she found $200 on the counter which she thinks was meant to take care of the cat. Phillips’ home phone had the battery removed. Johnson said on Monday she went through Phillips’ trash looking for a note and found her wallet with her social security card, credit card and bus pass still inside.
Johnson said Phillips does not have a car.
Sweeney said there was also cemetery plot information left out and he had someone go check the family’s plot — thinking she may have gone there to end her life. He said she’s recently been telling him and others how much she loved them and thanked Sweeney for being a good friend.
“I’m really worried about her,” Sweeney said.
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