The family member of a Santa Clarita Valley woman reported missing in Costa Rica last week said they know Ashley Phillips was living her best life on her own terms when tragedy struck, and the family is grateful for all the volunteers who have searched for their loved one.
Ashley Phillips, 30, has been missing since the morning of June 3, according to Jeff Jonkey, Phillips’ stepfather, who lives in Santa Clarita with Phillips’ mother.
Phillips had moved to Costa Rica about a year ago, he said in a phone interview Tuesday, and he had no doubt the former College of the Canyons student and Valencia High graduate was “living her best life” down there.
“She just liked living there, so she was exploring her options,” he said, adding that she also taught yoga to support herself.
He said he and his wife, Lesley, had last spoken to Phillips on June 2, and the following day, his wife had exchanged texts with her, and then nothing since.
Jeff Jonkey said the people helping in the search have given him a general idea of what happened, but the search for Phillips continues.
The idea behind her sojourn “was about seclusion and healing and peace,” he said.
She would frequently go on nature walks in the nearby Costa Rican jungle, where she could meditate while surrounded by nature and wildlife, he added, which was where they believe she was when tragedy struck.
“Apparently, in Costa Rica it could be clear and sunny where she was at, for the most part, and yet 4 to 5 miles away, at a higher elevation, it could be pouring rain — and flash floods come sweeping through there, I guess fairly quickly,” he said. “And my guess is she wasn’t aware of this weather that was occurring higher up, and she went for her swim and was washed down river.”
Local media reports stated Phillips officially was reported missing June 7 to Costa Rica’s Judicial Investigation Agency, in a story that also said she was last seen June 3. She was believed to have gone missing “in San Salvador de Barú, a rural mountain community in Pérez Zeledón, in the country’s southern zone,” according to the Tico Times, a leading English-language news outlet there.
The search has been complicated by a number of concerns, namely the fact that from May to November is considered the rainy season there, meaning the area is being hit by heavy downpours.
The emergency-response system is definitely somewhat different than in the United States, Jonkey said.
When you call the emergency line in Costa Rica, he said, the connection is often to the Red Cross, which is “the primary ambulance service,” he said, and the ones who led the search for Ashley Phillips.
“So every person that’s on this river searching for her are volunteers,” he said.
That was why the family had created a GoFundMe, he said, to support the volunteers who were giving so much to help find his daughter.
“They used divers, they were rappelling down waterfalls, drones, scuba divers underneath the water, dogs, so it was just kind of, you know, they pulled out all the stops to look for her, and we’re very grateful for that,” he said.
Tragically, the rainy season doesn’t subside until the fall, which will continue to complicate the search. The GoFundMe indicated that, on Friday, the family was notified that the search would be paused until the search conditions become safer.
“Honestly, she was in Costa Rica, living her best life on her own terms — that’s all that we can ask of, for our kids, right?” he said, “To be happy in their life, and that’s exactly what she was.”
Anyone who would like to support the GoFundMe can visit bit.ly/4vXmKmQ.
