Searchers have found the body of a man, still unidentified, while searching for an Oceanside man missing since Sunday, May 16. The search for Joey Espinosa, 20, had been expanded into Joshua Tree National Park Sunday, (May 23). Espinosa was last seen by a family member who dropped him off 30 miles east of Twentynine Palms. Espinosa told his grandmother he was answering a “Call from God” and walked south into the desert. Wednesday (May 26), at 10:55 a.m., detectives assigned to the Morongo Basin Station responded to the Joshua Tree National Park to assist in the active search-and-rescue operation being conducted by the National Park Service southeast of Ironage Road/Twentynine Palms Highway in Wonder Valley. The volunteer Joshua Tree Search-and-Rescue (JOSAR) team located several articles of clothing and called in a CHP helicopter to help in the search. The helicopter crew found the body about 1 p.m. in the open desert within the Joshua Tree National Park boundary. The coroner has not yet identified the body.
