AUBURN – Police across the area on Wednesday were still looking for a 77-year-old Auburn man who has been missing since the start of the week.

Police said they received information that William Young was last seen standing next to his vehicle in the Dunkin’ Donuts parking lot in New Auburn at about 10:10 a.m. Monday.

That day, Young failed to pick up his wife, Claire, at Walton School at 3 p.m. as he did most days. Claire Young said her husband suffers from dementia and that he often gets confused.

“He lost all sense of direction,” she said. “You have to understand how it is for people with dementia or Alzheimer’s.”

But as time went by on Monday, it became clear that her husband had wandered away. At home, the dishes were unwashed and the bed unmade, she said. Normally, Bill Young took care of those things at the start of the day.

Claire looked around the house but found no signs of her husband.

“He loves to putter with the lawn and be outside with nature,” she said. “But he wasn’t there.”

She then called Auburn police and the search has been on since, with Young’s name entered in the nationwide police computer network.

Police in Newington, Conn., were also searching for Young because he has a family connection there. By late in the day Wednesday, he had still not been found.

Young was driving a 1997 mint green Toyota RAV4 with a Maine veterans registration 10029. Police said he is in the late stages of dementia and is not considered dangerous.

Police described Young as gray-haired with hazel eyes, 5 feet, 9 inches tall and roughly 190 pounds. He was last seen wearing dark gray pants, a light green shirt, light green coat, black sneakers and a tan ball cap.

Claire Young said police have been in touch with her several times to keep her updated or to get more photographs of her husband.

“They have been very, very kind to us,” she said.

At Walton School, where Claire once taught full time, faculty members were helping out as well, bringing food and other things to Claire and her family.

“They have been super,” she said. “It’s all very incredible and very wonderful.”

Anyone with information about Bill Young’s whereabouts is asked to contact Auburn police at 207-333-6650.