Howard Weldon Maki, age 80, was found deceased in Laird Township on Sunday, June 20, after being reported missing for several days as a result of dementia.

Dementia is a term used to describe a group of symptoms affecting memory, thinking and social abilities severely enough to interfere with the person’s daily life, mayoclinic.org states. It is not a specific disease, but several diseases can cause dementia.

Though dementia generally involves memory loss, memory loss has different causes. Having memory loss alone does not mean a person has dementia, although it is often one of the early signs of the condition.

Dementia is caused by damage to, or loss of, nerve cells and their connections in the brain. Depending on the area of the brain that is damaged, dementia can affect people differently and cause different symptoms.

At approximately 1:15 p.m. on Sunday, a deputy from the Houghton County Sheriff’s Office and a member of the Superior Search and Rescue Team were driving the Sheriff Department’s ATV along an old snowmobile trail in Laird Township, when they located Maki’s body, approximately 1 3/4 miles southwest of Trail No. 109.

Two days previous, on June 18, the Sheriff’s Office, with the assistance of a friend of Maki’s, Maki’s vehicle was located about 1/8 of a mile south of the Alston Cemetery, parked, with a flat tire.

An extensive search was conducted of the area for Maki, involving several agencies, including the Houghton County Sheriff’s Office, Michigan State Police Calumet Post K9 Unit, Keweenaw Bay Tribal Police K9 Unit, Houghton County Emergency Measures, Superior Search and Rescue, Baraga County Search and Rescue, Laird Township Fire Dept., Pelkie Fire Dept., and several other volunteers.

On Sunday, a search team from Wisconsin arrived with Blood hounds to conduct a further search of the area.

A release from the Houghton County Sheriff’s Office stated that Maki was pronounced dead at the scene, and by it appeared that he had been at the location for several days.

While the cause of death is under investigation currently, the release states that foul play has been ruled out for now.

The release stated that the body of Howard Maki was released to the Jacobson Funeral Home, where arrangements will be announced. The case was forwarded to the Houghton County Medical Office for further investigation.