MOAB — Search crews looking for a missing Texas couple east of Moab discovered a pair of pants containing the man’s wallet and identification, officials said Wednesday.
Family members said Ray and Maranda Ankofski, ages 58 and 50, were last heard from Friday afternoon while exploring the Steel Bender Trail.
According to Grand County Sheriff’s Deputy Mike Palmer, dispatch initially received a report of a man and woman near the trail when flash flooding began Friday.
Although an initial aerial search was unsuccessful, Palmer said search crews returned Monday and reported an abandoned vehicle at the trailhead. Crews also discovered a UTV belonging to the Ankofski family near the trailhead.
Palmer said rescuers were “pretty sure” the couple were caught in the floods on Friday.
“It looks like they were trying to cross it and the flood was already there. They drove into it and the UTV probably went three-quarters of a mile into the flood before it came to a stop,” Palmer said.
Ray and Maranda Ankofski, ages 58 and 50, were last heard from in the early afternoon of Friday, June 21, 2024. They were on their way to the Steel Bender Trail, family members said. (Ashlynn Ankofski)
On Wednesday, crews combed two separate areas of 28 and 18 acres respectively associated with the locations of the UTV and Ray Ankofski’s pants.
Palmer said the wider search area has been challenging due to conditions left by the recent flash flood.
“You get all this debris piling up. (Then) you have mud and sand, and that’s called ‘screens,'” Palmer said. “So you have all these trees that are kind of filtering the water, and then you have two, three or four tons of debris in certain piles, and there are probably 100 (to) 150 of these piles down there in the canyon.”
Search crews from other jurisdictions assisted Wednesday, including San Juan County, Washington County, Utah County, Cache County, Mesa County, Colorado, as well as the Utah Division of Outdoor Recreation and the National Park Service.
According to Palmer, emergency responders had already spent a total of about 1,000 hours trying to find the couple.
Palmer said operations could be scaled down as early as Thursday, but the Grand County Sheriff’s Office will continue to work to find the couple.
“We will not stop looking for them,” Palmer promised. “There is always hope until there is no more hope.”
