Missing senior found dead

A missing 70-year-old man who prompted a massive police search effort has been found dead.

Zlatko Podrebarac, who suffered from a medical condition that might have caused him to become disoriented, was found by two citizens in the area of Birmingham and Burlington streets around 5:25 p.m. yesterday.

Acting Staff Sergeant Ryan Diodati said Podrebarac was found along the tracks and there was no indication of foul play or trauma.

Diodati said it appears the senior become disoriented in the tall brush, and passed away when he did not have his medication.

The discovery marked the end of a frantic 24-hour search for Podrebarac, who went missing Thursday around 5:30 p.m. from his Loyalist Drive home, east of the Red Hill Valley Parkway and south of Queenston Road.

He had asked a neighbour for a ride and was eventually dropped off at King Street East and Sherman Avenue North.

His family reported him missing shortly afterward.

On the way, Podrebarac, also called Joe, told his neighbour he used to work at J.I. Case in Hamilton, a company that once occupied the old International Harvester factory. The building at Burlington Street East and Wilcox Street was torn down after it closed in 1999.

Police searched for the missing man throughout Thursday night.