Bodies Recovered From Car Off LA Highway Believed To Be Of Missing Teen Couple

The police found a mangled car Tuesday off Los Angeles highway with two bodies, believed to be of a teen couple who went missing Thursday afternoon, in it.

Sophie Edwards and Ethan Manzano, both 19, were last seen near Newcombs Ranch in the Angeles National Forest, where they were visiting friends. Though authorities have not yet officially identified the bodies, volunteers assisting in the search said they have found the couple's belongings, ABC7 reported.

The wreckage of a vehicle was found below the Angeles Crest Highway near mile marker 72.

The news has devastated Sophie and Ethan's family members.

"I can't believe I'm going to be burying my son. He's only 19," Ethan's father Al Manzano was quoted by ABC 7.

Sophie's sister Cheyenne Chassie told the news outlet, "She was an amazing young lady, very intelligent and kind and just full of life and spunk."

Family members were first alerted about the couple Friday after Ethan and Sophie failed to show up at work. Sophie's father was supposed to meet the couple the same day to help them move to Colorado over the weekend, but he too failed to hear from them.

"I was going to go Friday morning and load up their furniture in my truck and caravan to Colorado on Saturday morning," Sophie's father Jeremy Edwards told NBC Los Angeles.

The police were then alerted, and investigation showed the couple was possibly last seen driving home to Apple Valley along the windy Angeles Crest in a 2007 Isuzu Ascender. The search was then narrowed down to the Dawson Saddle Trail near Newcombs Ranch because that's the last place the couple's cell phones pinged.

Rescue teams believe the couple may have accidentally driven off the winding mountain road, which drops hundreds of feet into deep, rugged ravines.

"You're surrounded by trees and other things that cover what you can see with the naked eye," Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department's Missing Persons Unit detective Matthew Pereida told NBC Los Angeles. "There are some areas that have guard rails but the area around Dawson Saddle didn't have any guard rails."

Pereida said they were a happy couple. "The friends said their demeanor was normal, nothing out of character for them. They were an affectionate couple. They had a great time," he said.