Found Deceased CA - Rachel Nguyen, 20, & Joseph Orbeso, 21, Joshua Tree Nat'l Park, 27 July 2017 #1

[Elainera]

I'm quoting this post as the story of Orbeso and his friend being at the park has now resurfaced. I wonder how much digging into this friend was done. Could be a red herring and have no bearing on the case but after little activity in terms of leads on the case I find it pretty interesting that that lead has come up again and was mentioned by his father.

Certainly Orbeso had told his father the truth in that they were going to the park. Why would he lie about doing that when they were going to check out restaurants and shops? And when did the friend go to Japan? Before or after the two went missing? Did he know Rachel?

Could be off base. Could be an important piece of the case.

bbm - Two young guys just changed their mind imo. I don't think it's fair to accuse Joseph of lying to his father.

 

[Force Ten]

How did they even know those tracks belong to these 2? Those tracks seem really far away.

Good question. Yes they really were far away. I would imagine they compared them to shoe prints around the vehicle and then leading away. One could travel that distance in a day or two, especially if panicked.

 

[Force Ten]

bbm - Two young guys just changed their mind imo. I don't think it's fair to accuse Joseph of lying to his father.

Agreed. It also could be a matter of how the father heard what he said he did or was going to do. My mother has a short attention span and I often am repeating myself to clarify.

 

[MzOpinion8d]

bbm - Two young guys just changed their mind imo. I don't think it's fair to accuse Joseph of lying to his father.

It was probably "we're going up by Joshua Tree, gonna check things out." They probably intended to check out the town and hiking areas and then ended up not doing the hiking areas for whatever reason.

This situation is what it is - two young people who went hiking in a dangerous place in bad conditions, and aren't going to make it out alive. It's tragic and sad, but let's be realistic. No one killed them.

 

[JetsFan24]

bbm - Two young guys just changed their mind imo. I don't think it's fair to accuse Joseph of lying to his father.

Could be entirely true and I could be reading into it too much.

I hope this becomes some crazy case that turns into a movie where they survived in extreme conditions for two to three weeks or something!

 

[GigTu]

Other than physically going out to search, what else can we do to find them?

 

[Gardener1850]

Other than physically going out to search, what else can we do to find them?

Is there a reward yet for finding them? I can't recall. While, I usually don't think a reward motivates people to search, one thing a reward does do is get the story into the press more. Maybe someone close to the family can raise a reward if there is not one. If there is a reward already, increase it. Also, I have not seen anything about vigils for Rachel and Joseph yet. Maybe they could hold a prayer vigil at the park? Would that be allowed? If not allowed or not safe, hold it in their hometown and be sure the press is alerted. Keeping their names in the press so more people going to Joshua Tree are aware they are there is the only thing I can think of to do other than physically search.

 

[killer Chaser]

Other than physically going out to search, what else can we do to find them?

They should challenge the public to get 20-30 drones out their!

 

[thekarmabus]

They should challenge the public to get 20-30 drones out their!

Yosemite rescue did use drones for this. I agree though with technology today it would have seemed drones would have flown at night in first few days that were equipped with heat sensory cameras.


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[GigTu]

I'm not going to harp against the SAR for that area because they've done the best they can within their limitations. But I do find it ridiculous that the park won't allow officials to use ATV's or dirt bikes to aid in searches for missing persons. Time is of the sense in a place like that.

 

[Elainera]

I'm not going to harp against the SAR for that area because they've done the best they can within their limitations. But I do find it ridiculous that the park won't allow officials to use ATV's or dirt bikes to aid in searches for missing persons. Time is of the sense in a place like that.

Did they use horses? In one video (not of the search, just visitors) people were on horses.

 

[Gardener1850]

[h=3]Search Continues For Missing Joshua Tree Hikers[/h]

Joshua Tree, CA - Entering the third week of searching, the Joshua Tree Search and Rescue team is scaling back its search efforts for Rachel Nguyen and Joseph Orbeso to weekends. But one volunteer isn't giving up.

"It's unusual because there's good tracks down in the canyon, but none going to it or back from it," said Brian Rennie, a volunteer with JOSAR Search and Rescue.

Now the JOSAR Search and Rescue team look for the pair on weekends, but Rennie still looks for clues even this morning.

"I went up in the Maze, and hiked around for other signs," Rennie said.

Rennie said they are now looking for items that may have been left behind.

"Now you're looking for signs, any kind of clues, maybe you find a water bottle," Rennie explained.
He said what's difficult about the search is all the rocks they could be under, and the heat on his team.

http://www.kmir.com/story/36134944/search-continues-for-missing-joshua-tree-hikers

 

[shrimpsiumai]

Interesting that he said there is "good tracks down in the canyon." Meaning there were multiple footprints spotted. But yet nothing in between the car and the tracks. hmmmm. Still think they are somewhere below a rock

 

[Tbone144]

Did they use horses? In one video (not of the search, just visitors) people were on horses.

I would think it would be too warm for horses. Not sure what the heat index is but I imagine it's hot enough it would be dangerous for horses.

http://www.extension.umn.edu/agriculture/horse/care/managing-horses-during-hot-weather/

Cooler weather it would be great.

 

[JetsFan24]

How long does a search like this go on for? Hopefully they find them before they call it off! It seems like it will be getting to that point soon.

 

[Elainera]

I would think it would be too warm for horses. Not sure what the heat index is but I imagine it's hot enough it would be dangerous for horses.

http://www.extension.umn.edu/agriculture/horse/care/managing-horses-during-hot-weather/

Cooler weather it would be great.

Thanks Tbone. I didn't think of that at all :facepalm:

Regarding the temperatures, this week is said to be a bit more bearable, in the lower 90s, but next week said to be above 100 again. In October the temps will be nice for hiking, it might draw more people out to help looking (and maybe horses), but hopefully they will be found before then.

https://www.accuweather.com/en/us/joshua-tree-ca/92252/august-weather/2154397

 

[gitana1]

I would think it would be too warm for horses. Not sure what the heat index is but I imagine it's hot enough it would be dangerous for horses.

http://www.extension.umn.edu/agriculture/horse/care/managing-horses-during-hot-weather/

Cooler weather it would be great.

Joshua Tree is mercilessly hot. It's a dry, dangerous feeling heat. I used to camp (and try to rock climb - kind of too scared though) out there. It feels like you could get into trouble super quickly out there.

 

[Force Ten]

Interesting that he said there is "good tracks down in the canyon." Meaning there were multiple footprints spotted. But yet nothing in between the car and the tracks. hmmmm. Still think they are somewhere below a rock

There could be several reasons for this. One would be a rocky terrain. Obviously one can not leave a print on rocks unless tracking mud. But there may have been more rock than dirt/sand to hold a track. Maybe they were running? No also doubtful. Rain? No rain in the park until a few days after people started searching. But from personal experience hiking in this area and others, they were hiking through a wash (at least two actually). The composite is sand and larger particles of it. Much of the time what you will find is divots in the sand like you would on a beach, that isn't wet. The prints they found (it's in the pics on the Tortoise Telegraph link) are on what appears to be a level area with a hard panned sandy soil that is more able to retain a print.

 

[GigTu]

I do think the rains may have played a part in erasing tracks. We don't know when they first searched the area with these tracks. It seems to me they followed the northern route initially, prior to the rains. Maze Loop trail runs Easterly.

 

[GigTu]

This older article, from July 31, answers a few questions I still had. Here's a few sections I found interesting.

http://www.hidesertstar.com/news/article_2cf62e4c-7590-11e7-8e48-031b2ad967e7.html

Search for hikers moves into rockier terrain as dogs find area of interest. The couple, who come from Westminster, went hiking in the national park Thursday and have not been seen since.

Search teams finished clearing the more commonly used trails Sunday and moved on to the rocky elevations. “We’ve started working on the really treacherous drainages so we can clear those,” Dan Messaros, a park ranger who is co-incident commander for the search, said Sunday afternoon. The terrain is unsafe and the temperatures are so high that it’s slow going for the search teams. Two searchers were pulled off the hunt as they showed symptoms of heat sickness Sunday. San Bernardino County’s rescue helicopter was called in to fly them out. “They were in spots where we couldn’t get them out any other way,” Messaros said.

Sunday started with a briefing and the deployment of K9 teams, who might have picked up a scent. “There’s an area the dogs have some interest in, in a very rocky area in the northeast corner of the park,” Messaros said.

The searchers are also coping with changing park terrain thanks to the monsoonal rains in the past month. The storm that hit some parts of Joshua Tree and Twentynine Palms Saturday night did not fall in the search area, but Messaros said they hope some water might get to Nguyen and Orbeso. “We’re hearing from the teams that there is water up in the rocks, so what we’re hoping is they’re able to find some water and shade,” he said.

A ping of Orbeso’s cellphone was recorded at 4 p.m. Thursday from inside the park. Messarsos said the ping came from the general area where the couple’s car was parked, so it was of limited use to the search.