Friends & family organize private search party for missing LA couple

Update: 11/18/16 10:30AM:

On Friday police said a missing Silver Lake couple have been located in Mexico in good health and will be reunited with their family.

Aaron Morganstein, 33, and Mariya Mitkova, 27, last had been heard from when they left their home in the 2200 block of Shoredale Avenue about 3 p.m. Saturday.

Authorities had thought the couple were headed to Joshua Tree National Park or the Imperial Sand Dunes, and sought public help when they couldn’t be reached.

Friends and family organize private search group to find missing LA couple (11/17/16)

Family and friends of the missing LA couple are holding a news conference in Cathedral City at 2:45 p.m. to provide updates on the search efforts to find Aaron Morganstein and Marijya Mitkova. KESQ News Channel 3 and CBS Local 2 will be at the conference and we’ll have updates at 5 p.m. and 5:30 p.m.

You can also track their search efforts on Facebook.

The couple is believed to have disappeared while traveling to Joshua Tree over the weekend. And because the search area is so big, they are now seeking the public’s help in locating them.

Park rangers at Joshua Tree National Park have been searching the Imperial Dunes area. Visitor centers have been alerted, but a thorough search of roads and campgrounds have not yet produced any leads regarding the couple’s whereabouts.

According to a friend of Aaron Morganstein and Mariya Mitkova, there is a small but dedicated search and rescue effort organized by family and friends to assist with the search efforts. Friends and family have donated nearly $20,000 to hire helicopters and planes from nearby flight schools to run their own search efforts.

Friends and family of the missing couple set up a Go Fund Me account to hire private search crews and investigators. They raised a total of $25,754 in just two days.

One of their friends told KESQ and CBS Local 2 the private search efforts are being organized because they believe police have been stalling on aerial support because the search area is still too wide.

Aaron’s mother and sister have flown into LA to be with the folks on the ground running the search effort, according to their friend.

Park rangers said that any private search party members should know that cell service isn’t reliable in the park or on the public lands surrounding the park. Searchers are encouraged to check in with the San Bernardino Sheriff’s Department or with the Joshua Tree National Park Chief Ranger to provide additional background information to help with the search.

Anyone with information about the missing couple is asked to call the Los Angeles Police Department’s Missing Person Unit Detective Guevara at (213) 996-1800 or (877) 527-3247 during non-business hours. If you want to remain anonymous, you may call Crime Stoppers at (800) 222-8477.

KESQ and CBS Local 2 will continue to follow the search efforts and provide updates as more information develops.

City News Service Los Angeles

Authorities on Wednesday sought public help to find a Los Angeles couple from the Silver Lake area who disappeared after leaving on a road trip to the desert. Aaron Morganstein, 33, and Mariya Mitkova, 27, left their home in the 2200 block of Shoredale Avenue about 3 p.m. Saturday.

“The couple are frequent campers and were believed to have been headed to Joshua Tree National Park or the Imperial Sand Dunes,” according to a Los Angeles Police Department statement.

According to a social media post by someone identified as a friend of the couple, a signal from at least one of their cell phones pinged off a tower near Interstate 10 in Rancho Mirage and one of their credit cards was used in the Cabazon area; about 45 minutes away from Joshua Tree.

A friend tells News Channel 3 that the couple was expected back to work on Monday and they never showed up. Another friend reported speaking to the couple about 6 p.m. Saturday, according to a Reddit post. The pair said they were at an In-N-Out Burger and were heading to Imperial Sand Dunes before a scheduled rendezvous with that friend at the Jumbo Rocks Campground at Joshua Tree, according to the Reddit post.

Morganstein is white, 6 feet 3 inches tall, weighs about 180 pounds, and has black hair and brown eyes. Mitkova is white, 5 feet 7 inches tall, weighs about 130 pounds, and has blonde hair and blue eyes.If you have seen or have any information regarding their whereabouts, call the Los Angeles Police Department.

They were traveling in a 2002 dark blue Subaru Outback, California license number 6PRH231.

Anyone with information on their whereabouts was urged to call (213) 996-1800 or (877) LAPD-247.