Missing elderly man may or may not have been sighted in PdC
By Correne Martin
Perhaps you’ve noticed a “Missing” poster in the Prairie du Chien area with pictures of an elderly man, for whom a Silver Alert was issued in 2019, when he went missing from the northern Wisconsin town of Winter.
The man, Norbert “Tony” Dantzman, would be 91 years old today. However, the Silver Alert for him is the only one in the state of Wisconsin that currently remains unsolved.
Reports from an original flyer widely circulated around Prairie du Chien denoted that Dantzman was seen in the city of Prairie du Chien, after he disappeared from a family reunion in the small Sawyer County community.
Prairie Police Chief Kyle Teynor held a conference call with the Sawyer County Sheriff’s Department Aug. 30—two years to the day after the California native was reported missing. Teynor said he wanted peace of mind regarding how definite authorities were that witnesses saw someone matching Dantzman’s description in Prairie du Chien at one point.
“The reality is, our witnesses here are as convinced they have seen him as the witnesses in South Carolina, Arizona or Waukesha,” Teynor stated. “We all want him found. I would love to find him in Prairie du Chien. There are just a lot of cautions that need to be clarified.”
So, the Wisconsin Department of Justice communicated with the man’s family in an effort to update the “Missing” poster with additional information and new photos.
Teynor said it’s unlikely Dantzman traveled to all of the above locations where witnesses have believed they saw him. It’s even hard to believe he would somehow travel, by hitching a ride or especially on foot, to Prairie du Chien at his age. So, this is part of the reason Sawyer County wanted to update its flyer, removing a line about Dantzman being seen last in Prairie du Chien, and why Teynor wanted to clarify any misleading information.
He said, if someone in Oregon, for instance, felt like they saw Dantzman there, but the flyer said he was last spotted in Prairie du Chien, that may influence a person’s encouragement to report seeing him.
“I can’t stress enough: As adamant as our witnesses are that they saw him here, witnesses all over the country are just as adamant they saw him too,” Teynor stated.
There have been many tips on this case, but there have not been any confirmed sightings, according to the “Missing” flyer.
Norbert A. “Tony” Dantzman was staying at the Northern Lights Motel (also known as the Storuf Motel) in Winter, with family members who noticed he was missing from the motel around 10 a.m., on Aug. 30, 2019. Dantzman had traveled to Wisconsin from his home in California for family reunion. He was last seen wearing a grey or white hat, eyeglasses, a checkered shirt, black vest, black pants, black shoes, his wedding ring and an additional gold ring. Dantzman wears dentures and has crooked fingers. He did not take any identification with him or his cell phone. Dantzman was last seen traveling on foot north of the Northern Lights Motel.
Anyone having inormation should contact the Sawyer County Sheriff’s Department at (715) 634-5213, or the Wisconsin Missing Persons Cleringhouse at (800) THE-HOPE (843-4673).
