James Wilson Jr., a 78-year-old African American man with graying hair and brown eyes, vanished from his home in Jacksonville, North Carolina. He was last seen on May 31, 2018, near Country Club Road wearing a red shirt and blue pants. At the time he was living with dementia and was known to wander and sometimes hitchhike, which prompted a Silver Alert from the Jacksonville Police Department.

Wilson stood about 5 feet 11 inches and weighed between 190 and 200 pounds. A decorated Vietnam veteran who earned a Purple Heart and worked as a carpenter, he had family in Georgia, South Carolina, and Michigan; investigators sent information to law enforcement in those areas. Tips included a possible sighting at a business in nearby Swansboro in the weeks after he disappeared, but none produced his return.

The Jacksonville Police Department continues to treat the case as active and asks residents to check seldom-used buildings on their properties and to report any information, however small. If anyone knew James, saw him around May 31, 2018, or has details about his movements near Country Club Road or Swansboro, please come forward.