The family of a man with schizophrenia who fled from a psychiatric center is offering a $500 reward for information leading to a reunion with him.

Graham Lacher is shown in November 2021 in Belfast. Lacher, 38, is still missing after running from a Bangor psychiatric hospital on June 6. Photo courtesy of Tammy Lacher Scully

Graham Lacher ran away from the Dorothea Dix Psychiatric Center in Bangor on June 6 after being taken outside for a walk. There have been no confirmed sightings of Lacher in the three months he has been missing.

But his mother and legal guardian, Tammy Lacher Scully of Belfast, has not stopped searching for him.

“It’s come up a few times that we should just let Graham go —let him enjoy his freedom, etc. I think this comes from a lack of awareness generally about mental illness. Schizophrenia is not a life choice; it’s a disease,” Scully wrote in an email Wednesday. “The public seems to understand that if someone with dementia or Alzheimer’s disappears, we don’t say, ‘Well, that’s their choice.’ We realize that they are not capable of making healthy choices because of their illness, and we try to find them so we can help them.

“That is why we will keep looking for him, why we will not just let him go,” she continued. “We want him to have as much freedom as he can manage — including from the voices in his head that threaten his life.”

Lacher was previously at a group home in Norridgewock but walked away from there in November 2021 and was missing for a couple of days before being found in Waterville. He was later placed at the Dorothea Dix Psychiatric Center.

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In addition to his diagnosis of schizophrenia, Scully said her son is also on the autism spectrum. Scully has previously said the autism makes Lacher nonsocial and the schizophrenia makes him afraid of people.

Scully feels the mental health care system has failed Lacher and their family and is asking for the public’s help in locating him. She said they have received reports of potential sighting in the Waterville and Skowhegan areas, which Lacher is familiar with, but it has not been him.

Since his disappearance, Lacher has turned 38 years old. There is no official active investigation or search for her son, according to Scully. However, Sgt. Jason McAmbley of the Bangor Police Department said Wednesday that the case remains open with a detective assigned to it and the department investigates any reported sightings.

Besides Scully and her husband, Jack Scully, Lacher’s stepmother, Kim Lacher, and volunteers Brandy St. Louis Baron and Robert Kearns are looking for him.

“I don’t think the public realizes we’re the only ones actively looking for him,” Scully said. “We need more help. We need the public to look hard. This disappearance comes from his illness.”

Authorities ask that anyone who sees Lacher, or has information about his whereabouts, call Bangor police at 207-942-8211.

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