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 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.
The couple had set out for a hike July 27, when temperatures in the park hit 100 degrees.
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.
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.