BERLIN -- The search continued yesterday for an elderly Berlin woman who suffers from dementia and short-term memory loss and was last seen at her residence near South Point Monday afternoon.

Shortly after midnight on Tuesday, the Worcester County Sheriff’s Office received a missing persons report on Helen Stephanie David, 77, of Berlin, from her son, Ryan Putney. David lives on Carefree Lane in the South Point area and was last seen at her residence shortly after 3 p.m. on Monday.

David is about 5’6” tall and around 142 pounds with salt-and-pepper hair of medium length. When last seen, she was wearing a blue and white blouse with flowers, light blue Capri-style pants, two pairs of white socks and possibly tan Burkenstock sandals.

Throughout the week, an extensive search was conducted in the South Point area and along the Route 611 corridor on the ground, by air and by boat to no avail. The Worcester County Sheriff’s Office, the Maryland State Police and Maryland Natural Resources Police (NRP) continued the search through late yesterday, although the search teams had been scaled back somewhat. At the height of the search mid-week, the local authorities were assisted by the Civil Air Patrol and search and rescue teams from as far away as the western shore.

As late as 9:30 p.m. on Tuesday, several groups of people were seen searching the wooded areas around South Point by flashlight. Crews were also seen searching the area around the Ocean City Golf Club and up and down the Route 611 corridor. Electronic message boards have been up along Route 611 and other roads in the area asking the public to be on the lookout for David. In addition, flyers have been distributed to businesses along Route 611.

Maryland Coastal Bays Program Executive Director Dave Wilson said David was a frequent volunteer with the program.

“I don’t know how many bayscapes she planted, but there were at least nine or 10 at the different schools like Buckingham and BIS and all around South Point,” he said. “She donated so much of her time and she also donated the plants. She is one of the sweetest, kindest volunteers we’ve ever had. She hasn’t been doing as much recently as her health declined, but I saw her recently and she seemed to have her wits about her and was alert. It’s just so hard to figure out.”