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Casey Kasem Found 'Vacationing' In Washington After Mysterious Disappearance
Jean Kasem and Casey Kasem in 2004 at an event at the Beverly Hills Hotel. (Photo by Michael Tullberg/Getty Images)
Casey Kasem was found safe in Washington on Thursday just days after a Los Angeles judge ordered an investigation into the ailing radio icon's whereabouts.
Deputy Scott Wilson from the Sheriff's Dept. in Kitsap County, Washington told ABC News that they found Kasem's location with an address they got from the California Adult Protective Services. Although it's unclear where exactly they found him, authorities said that the couple told them they were on vacation, visiting people at a home. Jean Kasem said her husband was well aware of where he was.
The 82-year-old radio icon famously known for hosting the weekly American Top 40 program suffers from Lewy Body Disease, a form of dementia. (Earlier reports had mistakenly said that he had Parkinson's Disease.)
Just hours before he was found, his daughter, Kerri Kasem, filed a missing persons report on her father with the Santa Monica Police Dept. She was appointed as his temporary conservator on Monday in the L.A. Superior Court. However, Superior Court Judge Daniel S. Murphy ordered investigators to search for the radio host's whereabouts after Jean Kasem's attorney told the judge that Casey Kasem was no longer in the U.S. and he didn't know where he was. Kerri Kasem's attorney believed that Casey was taken to an Indian reservation in Washington.
"We are grateful to the local authorities for finding my dad," Kerri Kasem said in a statement. "We are one step closer to bringing him home."
Kerri Kasem and her siblings accused their stepmother, Jean Kasem, of blocking them from seeing their father in recent months. The siblings protested outside of their father's home in Holmby Hills in October to bring attention to the situation. Jean Kasem, who has been married to Casey Kasem for 34 years, had been in charge of his medical care up until now.
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