RV'ing couple missing

It is indeed tragic. Based on the Sheriff press release on location, I would assume they were looking for a shortcut back to 95 and took one of those "roads" that are really nothing but dirt trails. Once they were stuck, they tried to make it somewhere in their car and that also got bogged down. They first spotted the larger RV from the air but could not see the small car which was only a couples miles away. Once they got to the RV and discovered it empty, they used it as a reference point to fan out searching for the car.

Having lived in the desert, I have always followed the practice that if you get stuck in the RV, stay with the RV as it's bigger to find and at least have the ability to provide survival resources.