Missing Tennessee couple visiting Fairbanks have been found

FAIRBANKS, Alaska (KTVF) - Jonas Bare and Cynthia Hovesepian, the missing couple from Tennessee have been located according to a 9 p.m. press release from Alaska State Troopers Communications Director on Friday, Aug. 18.

Two hikers located Jonas Bare on a trail approximately 200 yards from Chena Hot Springs Resort on Friday evening. The hikers brought Bare to the Alaska Wildlife Troopers Search and Rescue command post at the resort.

Bare told troopers he was uninjured and he had left Cynthia Hovesepian to get help. With assistance from Bare, troopers and rescuers found Hovesepian approximately three miles from the Chena Hot Springs Report. Hovesepian and the rescue team returned to the resort at 8:40 p.m. where emergency medical services evaluated both Bare and Hovesepian.

The couple had missed their return flight home and friends and family were concerned of their whereabouts. Bare and Hovesepian were staying at an Air BNB in Fairbanks and had visited the Chena Hot Springs Resort. Their luggage was still at their vacation rental and the Jeep Compass they rented was located at Chena Hot Springs Resort.

Additional resources had been brought in early Friday to aid in locating the missing couple. Investigators found maps of the trails around the resort inside their rental vehicle. Security camera footage from the resort was reviewed and employees were interviewed. A witness was contacted saying they had “given them directions to go hike on a trail called the Nature Trail,” said Sgt. Dan Valentine, the Search and Rescue Incident Commander for the Alaska Wildlife Troopers. However, the couple was not located along the Nature Trail and search efforts moved on to the Monument Creek Trail. Friday evening the couple was located.

Additional information will be provided as it becomes available.