Texas couple missing in Utah believed to have been swept away by floodwaters on popular off-roading trail

Ray and Maranda Ankofski went missing while they were on their annual trip to Utah.

MOAB, Utah — The Ankofskis make an annual trip from Pearland, Texas, where they live, to Moab, Utah, to get a taste of the outdoors.

Ray is 58 and Maranda is 50. They have two children.

Their daughter said her parents were at the Steel Bender Trail, a popular off-roading site, when they went missing on Friday afternoon. She said her parents were active and enjoyed riding ATVs.

"I would have thought that they would have been able to get back from the mile-and-a-half where they were at," Donna Stevens said.

But, the region has been hit hard by flash flooding recently, making conditions on the trails dangerous.

"It's just total destruction down through there," Grand County Sheriff's Office Chief Deputy Mike Palmer said.

Searchers have spent hours sifting through the aftermath along the trail looking for any sign of Ray or Maranda.

"They had gone off-trail -- you can see them looking, looking," Palmer said.

Palmer said crews found some signs of the couple -- including an unsettling one in a tree.

"We found a pair of pants last night with a wallet in them -- his (Ray's) wallet and his ID," Palmer said.

Authorities think they were caught up in floodwaters.

"And it probably tumbled that UTV down the wash -- I'm going to say three-quarters of a mile before it stopped," Palmer said.

The search efforts for the couple were suspended due to new flooding concerns.

Ray and Maranda's children are holding out hope for their safe return and thanked the Moab community for the outpouring of support they've received over the last week or so. They set up a GoFundMe account to help pay for search efforts.