A day after one of his daughters was named his temporary conservator, radio legend Casey Kasem’s whereabouts remained uncertain today, prompting her to plead for his safe return.
“We want people to call police and help us find our dad. It’s so important. He’s very ill. He shouldn’t be moved,” Kerri Kasem said in a television interview.
She also took to Facebook to ask for help.
On Monday, saying he had “grave concern” for the “safety, health and well-being” of Casey Kasem, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Daniel Murphy named Kerri as her 82-year-old father’s temporary conservator and also ordered that his whereabouts be disclosed to her.
Her conservatorship efforts were opposed by stepmother Jean Kasem, who has maintained the former host of “Casey’s Top 40” is being well cared for.
She was not in court for the conservatorship hearing, but her lawyer, Craig Marcus, said Monday that his client’s husband was taken somewhere out of the country. The attorney also said Jean Kasem is not denying her stepdaughters visitation with their father.
Kerri Kasem’s lawyer, Troy Martin, told the judge that he believed his client’s father was moved to a Native American reservation in Washington.
The temporary conservatorship expires June 20, when a hearing is scheduled on whether to make the conservatorship permanent. Murphy also directed that wherever Kasem currently is, he may not be moved again without an order of the court unless there is a medical emergency.
A model and radio personality, Kerri Kasem filed documents alleging that her stepmother “continues to cruelly prevent (Casey Kasem) from seeing his loved ones, including his children, brother and close friends.”
In a sworn declaration filed with the court, shesays her father has Lewy Body Disease, which she says has symptoms similar to Parkinson’s disease, but with a greater impact on the sufferer’s cognitive functions.
Kerri Kasem claims her stepmother previously moved her father to five different facilities to keep his children and other loved ones from visiting him. She said she and her sister Julie were able to locate and visit him last Tuesday at Berkley East Convalescent Hospital in Santa Monica, and that it was the first time she had seen him since December.