Missing Sisters man shows up at woman’s motor home

Man sought shelter; 911 dispatcher tells her was reported missing

SISTERS, Ore. (KTVZ) -- When an unfamiliar man showed up at her motor home early Saturday morning, a worried Sisters woman immediately called 911, but soon learned he was a missing man who was being sought, so she provided help until authorities arrived. 

The Sisters resident, who wanted to remain anonymous, told NewsChannel 21 on Sunday she had no prior knowledge of the 89-year-old missing Sisters who was believed to have left his home on North Songbird Street late Friday night.

The Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office had asked for the public’s help in locating 89-year-old James Fisher early Saturday morning.

The woman said she had just woken up around 5 a.m. Saturday when she spotted Fisher on her surveillance monitor. She said he tried to open the door and was wandering around the property.

“He said he was cold, and he said, ‘Let me in, let me in,’” the woman told NewsChannel 21. “I said, ‘I don’t know you!’”

While she was on the phone with 911, a dispatcher described to her a man who had been reported missing in Sisters. 

That’s when the woman realized who the man at her motor home was.

"When you're in a situation like that, you don't know if it's drugs, mental illness, or if they can hurt you," she said. "But when the 911 dispatcher told me he was the missing man, I switched gears to everything I could do to help him."

As captured in the surveillance footage, the woman gave Fisher some blankets to keep him warm before deputies arrived.

The woman, who posted her security video with narration to YouTube, said with the lack of light in the area, one wrong step and Fisher could have ended up in the nearby creek, or knocked on the wrong door.

“At that time of night, the man could’ve gotten hurt, and I didn’t think about that at first, because I myself thought he was an intruder,” the woman said.

When deputies arrived, Fisher was taken to a hospital for evaluation.