The families of two hikers who went missing in Joshua Tree over four weeks ago are now offering a reward for any information that leads to their safe return.
Rachel Nguyen, 20, and Joseph Orbeso, 21, entered Joshua Tree National Park at approximately 6:45am on Thursday, July 27. They have not been seen or heard from since.
The couple’s car was discovered on Friday, July 28 about 1.5 miles from the park’s entrance in the Maze Loop area after an Airbnb host reported the couple missing when they didn’t check in.
Hundreds of searches have since spent thousands of hours looking for the missing pair and have found few leads, according to a press release from the National Park.
News Release: Family Seeks the Public Help in Search for Couple Missing in Joshua Tree National Park https://t.co/adkqOSU1z2 pic.twitter.com/mJs7If9r9x
— Joshua Tree NPS (@JoshuaTreeNPS) August 25, 2017
The National Park Service and the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department have now entered into what is known as a limited continuous search mode. During this phase of the search, agencies will continue to methodically search areas of high probability within the park whenever sufficient resources are available as they lack the staff and resources to carry on the search with the same intensity as during the initial phase.
A reward of $10,00 was announced by the families of the missing hikers on Friday. They are seeking any information that leads to the successful and safe return of Nguyen and Orbeso. It’s their hope that the missing party may have left on their own accord and are alive somewhere outside the park.
Anyone with info is asked to call the San Bernardino Dispatch at 909- 383-5652 and request the detective division.
