EL PASO--- For hours on end, bloodhounds sniffed and searched up and down Alameda Ave. in South Central El Paso Thursday.
With the help of police stopping traffic, officers hoped to get a trail on 73-year-old Miguel Olivas; an Alzheimer's patient who went missing last Friday.
"We are at their disposal, if they request our assistance, free of charge," said Maj.Juan Paz of the Texas Dept. of Criminal Justice, who lends out the dogs for emergencies like this one.
The two bloodhounds they have train five days a week for this job, and can sniff out all types of people: from children, to felons, even those with Alzheimer's.
The K-9 search for Miguel Olivas began six days after he went missing, which points to one major problem, Paz said.
"The best time for us to be able to find somebody is within 24 hours. Not to say that we can't, but that's the best time to do it," he said.
Meaning the morning's search may have come too late.
Paz told NewsChannel 9 they can only help if El Paso police give them the go-ahead.
So we asked police why this search wasn't done earlier.
"I don't know. Investigators may have exhausted all leads and they're seeing if this could prove anything," said Spokesman Javier Sambrano in a phone interview.
We're told there was a slight glimmer of hope Thursday.
While the dogs did not find Olivas, they did catch on to his scent near Alameda and Delta, helping investigators focus their search.
If you have seen Olivas, you're asked to call police at 832-4400.
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