Halifax Regional Police have released new information about the last known movements of a missing senior.

James Cuthbert, 71, left his home in Head of Jeddore on the Eastern Shore around 11:30 a.m. Sunday.

His family says he was going to run some errands and meet his 102-year-old mother, whom he has visited religiously every second day for nine years. They knew something was wrong when he failed to show up.

“The passage of time is not…time is not our friend in this case,” says Cuthbert’s son-in-law, Tom Martin, a former homicide investigator with the Halifax Regional Police.

Investigators have used surveillance video to begin a timeline of Cuthbert’s activities; he stopped at the Esso service station on Cole Harbour Road shortly after noon and then stopped at the Canadian Tire store in Dartmouth Crossing around 12:30 p.m. Sunday.

Now, a new tip from a witness has placed Cuthbert outside his car in the parking lot of the Home Depot in Dartmouth Crossing sometime between 1 p.m. and 1:30 p.m. Sunday.

“It really just helps us to determine what his last movements were,” says Theresa Rath, a spokesperson with the Halifax Regional Police. “We’re really trying to piece together where he’s been over the last 72 hours since that last sighting.”

A helicopter was searching the Dartmouth and Eastern Passage areas Tuesday in an effort to find his white Toyota Prius, but the vehicle has yet to be found.

Martine says finding his father-in-law’s car is key.

“The car is obviously in a place where it’s not supposed to be found,” he says.

Police say, while it is unusual for Cuthbert to be out of touch with his family for this long, they have no reason to suspect foul play at this time.

But Martin says the facts don’t add up.

“People don’t just vanish. Cars don’t just disappear.”

Martin says Cuthbert has no medical issues and he left home with just $5 in his pocket. His debit card also hasn’t been touched.

“It is physically impossible for someone not to have seen something. It’s realizing that you saw something.”

Cuthbert is described as a white man with slightly balding hair, a grey beard and hazel eyes. He is about six-feet tall and weighs 170 pounds. He was last seen wearing rimless glasses, a brown leather bomber-style jacket and brown loafer shoes.

Police say he drives a white 2012 four-door Toyota Prius with Nova Scotia licence plate DTV 905.

Anyone with information on Cuthbert’s appearance is asked to contact police.

With files from CTV Atlantic's Kayla Hounsell