missing couple big sur

Olivia Hannah Gonzalez, 20, and Brian Fernandez, 21, were last seen Dec. 23, when they told family they were going camping in Big Sur and would return by Christmas. Bad weather cut short an air and ground search on Dec. 31.

UPDATE: The car belonging to a North Hollywood couple missing since before Christmas was recovered from 325 feet down a cliff near Ragged Point in San Luis Obispo County on Friday morning, according to the California Highway Patrol.

The body of Olivia Hannah Gonzalez, 20, of North Hollywood, was pulled up Tuesday, and her identity was confirmed a day later, a CHP spokesman says.

Still missing is Gonzalez's boyfriend, Brian Fernandez, 21; search and rescue teams were scouring the side of the cliff on Wednesday, as dive crews searched the coastline below.

The two were reported missing by their families after disappearing on Dec. 23. The couple told their families on that day that they were going camping in Big Sur with their two dogs, returning by Christmas day, but were never heard from again.

Gonzalez's body was found on Tuesday, after the CHP received a report of a car spotted down the side of a cliff. The car matched the description of one belonging to Gonzalez and Fernandez. Inside the car with Gonzalez's body was the body of one of the couple's two dogs; the body of the second dog was recovered later, a CHP spokesman confirms.

Based on the report that the couple was headed for Big Sur, the Monterey County Sheriff's Office and other agencies conducted an air and ground search along the Big Sur coastline on Saturday, according to Monterey Sheriff's spokesman, Cmdr. John Thornburg.

A Sheriff's Office plane made several passes along the Big Sur coast, but could find no signs that a car went over a cliff there, Thornburg says. The flight was cut short by intermittent rain and below-freezing temperatures. A search scheduled for Monday was cancelled due to weather.

Rainy weather continues to be an issue for San Luis Obispo County officials who had to delay recovering the couple's car. They are waiting for a break in the weather and may be able to recover the car on Thursday or Friday, says Officer Patrick Seebart of the Templeton CHP office. 

Despite the weather, the San Luis Obispo Sheriff's Department had search and rescue teams combing the side of the cliff on Wednesday for signs of Fernandez, Seebart says. Dive crews were also searching along the coastline below.

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