Family, friends, volunteers search for missing pair originally from Lorain

SHEFFIELD TWP. — About two dozen friends, family and volunteers gathered to search for two missing young adults Saturday morning. Alaina Camacho, 18, and Nathan Orona, 20, were last seen in Camacho's gold 2004 Honda Accord leaving the Sheffield Estates apartments about 1:40 a.m. Feb. 1. After nearly a month since the pair's disappearance, family and friends have received no contact from either of them, and the car has yet to be found. Orona's aunt, Jennifer Sanabria, organized the search effort Saturday morning, gathering everyone at the Apples off North Ridge Road before splitting into groups to check the woods behind the shopping center and farther into Lorain. "All we can do is try our best and bring him home and bring Alaina home, but at this point we don't know — we're just out here trying to do something," she said. In the brisk February air, a handful of volunteers including Sanabria searched about 50 meters into the wooded area across from Sheffield Estates apartments. Picking through a homeless encampment and climbing over fallen trees, the group found nothing else in the slush and overgrowth. "He has family that loves him," she said. "He was working on his GED, he was working on getting his life together and wanting to change, and now all of this. So I can't see him just taking off, running away or anything because he was working so hard to get everything that he wanted to get accomplished." Camacho had recently moved from Lorain to Cleveland, and had picked up Orona from his mother's apartment. The pair knew each other from school, Sanabria said. Camacho's car, license plate GTD 9555, is missing its front bumper from a recent crash and was reportedly low on gas when she arrived at Orona's home, Sanabria said. The car was last seen turning left on O'Neill Boulevard toward Elyria Avenue, and family suspect the pair had to stop for gas to make it very far after that. Sanabria said they have organized searches in Cleveland around the Liberty Gas station on Kinsman Road near Camacho's apartment, but have found nothing there and were asked to leave the area at gunpoint. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children has issued missing posters for the pair. Alaina "Alice" Camacho is described as a 5-foot, 3-inch-tall Hispanic woman with brown eyes and brown hair. She weighs about 140 pounds. She was last seen wearing black leggings, a black pullover sweatshirt, gray boots and a red baseball cap. She has the letter "M" with a crown tattooed on her neck behind her ear. Nathan "Nuski" Orona is described as a 5-foot, 11-inch-tall Hispanic man with brown eyes and brown hair and a thin mustache. He weighs about 180 pounds. He was last seen wearing a gray hoodie, black jeans and black bandana. He has a wing tattoo on the front of his neck and on both arms. Those with information about Orona or Camacho are asked to call Cleveland police at (216) 623-5400 or the Lorain County Sheriff's Office at (440) 329-3709. Texas EquuSearch, a national nonprofit organization, is assisting in the search for both individuals. It can be reached at (281) 309-9500. "There's rumors flying and behind every rumor is a little bit of truth," Sanabria said, adding later, "Without that car, it's like (looking for) a needle in a haystack." Contact Carissa Woytach at (440) 329-7245 or cwoytach@chroniclet.com.