A missing couple died in each other’s arms, says father who found the bodies

Joseph Orbeso, 21, and Rachel Nguyen, 20, vanished in July in triple-digit heat at Joshua Tree National Park in Southern California.

For three months, Gilbert Orbeso, Joseph’s father, joined teams of searchers scouring the harsh desert terrain for the couple. On Sunday, he found the answers to his questions, reported KESQ.

“I believed that I was going to find them,” Orbeso told KESQ. “I didn’t know when, but I had my answer today.”

The bodies, which await official identification, were found embracing, reported KABC.

The two bodies were found in a remote area of Joshua Tree National Park, east of Los Angeles, at 11:30 a.m. Sunday, according to a National Park Service press release.

Nguyen and Joseph Orbeso, both from Los Angeles, had set out for a hike July 27, when temperatures in the park hit 100 degrees. A ping from Joseph Orbeso’s cellphone was recorded in the park that day. The owner of the AirBnB where they had been staying notified authorities when they didn’t check out the next day.

Searchers found their car at the head of the Maze Loop trail but few other clues. Volunteer searchers scoured the park for days, using search dogs, helicopters and airplanes. Some searchers and dogs required rescue themselves after becoming injured or dehydrated in the rough terrain, reported Joshua Tree Search and Rescue volunteers.

A pair of sunglasses found in the park in late September may have belonged to Joseph Orbeso.

Even after official search efforts ended, Gilbert Orbeso continued looking for the couple on weekends with the assistance of friends and volunteers, KABC reported.

On Sunday, he found pieces of clothing, water bottles and food wrappers in a wash two miles from the Maze Loop. He followed the trail to the two bodies, found embracing each other.

“I feel that we have closure and we know we found them. That was our main goal, to find them,” Gilbert Orbeso told KESQ.

Joshua Tree National Park, in San Bernardino and Riverside counties, covers 792,000 acres, an area slightly larger than the state of Rhode Island, according to the National Park Service. A large part of the park is a designated wilderness area. About 1.4 million people visit the park each year.

This story was originally published October 16, 2017 at 10:24 AM with the headline "A missing couple died in each other’s arms, says father who found the bodies."