Search Continues for Yakima Man Missing in Ukraine
YAKIMA, Wash.– NBC Right Now continues to follow the search for a longtime Yakima doctor, missing for more than a day in Ukraine.
Dr. Jay Sloop practiced medicine in Yakima for 36 years, helping countless people and delivering hundreds of babies before he retired in 2005.
Wednesday, many unanswered questions and his family left wondering what could have happened to him while on a walk in Ukraine’s capital city of Kyiv.
“It’s very difficult. There’s a lot of helpless feeling because we are so far away,” said Linda Sloop, the missing doctor’s daughter-in-law.
Linda says he’s been to Ukraine before, this time, on a medical mission helping set up a lifestyle and wellness center through the Seventh Day Adventist Church he belongs to. A church, family and friends say is a big part of his life.
“He is the church I would say. He’s just a wonderful person,” said Nita Hinman, a longtime family friend.
Linda says details as to what happened the morning Dr. Sloop disappeared are still limited. But, she says the U.S. Embassy and many people in Kyiv are helping search for the retired doctor.
“People are going up and down streets with flyers with his picture. There’s areas they’ve searched and just hoping to find some sign of him,” Linda said.
She says her son is now in Kyiv working with local law enforcement and the embassy to try and find answers.
But for family and friends more than an ocean away, Linda says they cling to hope, and pray he’ll be found soon.
“We have so many friends, people in the community, people all over the world really that have called and offered their support and let us know they’re praying for him,” Linda said.
“He just made a great impact on this community,” Hinman said.
There is a prayer service Wednesday night at Yakima’s Seventh Day Adventist Church on 35th Avenue. It starts at 7:30pm.
You can also visit a blog set up by the family designed to keep the community informed on the search efforts. According to that blog, the family says they’ve narrowed down the area where Dr. Sloop could be. They’re trying to get more volunteers to search the park, Zamcova Gora, and hopefully find the missing man.
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YAKIMA, Wash. – A Yakima man went missing Tuesday morning in Kyiv, Ukraine.
The Upper Columbia Conference Health Ministries says their director, 77-year-old Dr. Jay Sloop, disappeared during an early morning walk around 6:45. They say Dr. Sloop has been in Ukraine for the past three weeks helping a local church set up a lifestyle center.
Dr. Sloop was scheduled to meet his roommate for breakfast an hour later, but did not show up.