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Retired SF Firefighter Missing On Cross-Country Amtrak Ride

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS/AP) -- Family members and Amtrak officials are looking for a retired San Francisco firefighter from San Mateo who disappeared from a train somewhere between Denver and Chicago.

Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari said Sunday that the railroad is searching for 69-year-old Charlie Dowd.

Dowd, who lives in San Mateo, Calif., boarded the Amtrak train on Wednesday in the San Francisco area.

Dowd's son talked to him by cellphone on Thursday evening when the train was in the Denver area. That was the last time family members talked to Dowd.

Dowd's luggage, cellphone and medication arrived in Chicago without him on Friday. Family members say they are worried that Dowd may become disoriented without his medication.

Dowd is a retired firefighter who is 5 feet 10 inches tall and weighs 175 pounds.

Anyone with any information about Charles Dowd's whereabouts is asked to call Amtrak police at (800) 331-0008 or the Dowd family at (650) 766-6470.

(Copyright 2012 by CBS San Francisco. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed)

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