Lawsuit: Airline lost Alzheimer's patient

Margie Dabney, 70, not seen since December 5

This picture of Margie Dabney was shown by her husband Friday on CNN's American Morning with Paula Zahn. Joe Dabney has filed a lawsuit against American Airlines.

BAKERSFIELD, California (CNN) -- The last time Joe Dabney says he saw his wife was during a December 5 layover at the Dallas-Fort Worth airport in Texas.

On Thursday, Dabney and his attorney announced he's suing American Airlines for $10 million, alleging gross negligence and incompetence in Margie Dabney's mysterious disappearance.

"I would like to just find my wife, and I pray I find her," he said Thursday when the lawsuit was announced. "I know I ain't got long to be here, but I pray and trust I see her before I go."

Dabney and his wife, a 70-year-old Alzheimer's patient, stopped to change planes at the Dallas airport while traveling to Los Angeles from Indianapolis, Indiana.

When they arrived in Dallas, an airline escort initially didn't arrive to take the couple to their next gate, according to their laywer, Bruce South.

Later, an escort helped Mr. Dabney -- who was recovering from hip surgery and in a wheelchair -- but left Margie Dabney unattended, South said. He suggested the escort didn't speak English and couldn't understand Mr. Dabney.

Joe Dabney spoke Friday on CNN: "When I told them that she was going, they kept on trying to push me away."

"When I told them that she was going, they kept on trying to push me away. And I asked them, 'Please give my wife (help),' and they kept on pushing me," Dabney told CNN.

South said the woman somehow wound up in a secure area outside the terminal. He said she was spotted twice on December 5 and again by a pilot on December 7.

"We know at least for two days she probably wandered around some secured area of the airport and after that last sighting, on December 7, there's been no trace of Margie Dabney," he said.

In a statement to CNN, American Airlines said it had not seen the lawsuit and that it does not typically comment on pending litigation.

"We have apologized repeatedly to the family. There are a lot of questions that remain," the airline said.

"We continue to search for answers, but we don't know what happened that late morning on December 5 that apparently allowed Ms. Dabney to wander off."