A married couple who went missing while riding a snowmachine in Alaska were found dead a day after authorities tried to search for them but were impeded by a storm.
According to the Alaska Department of Public Safety, Charlene "Aupee" Habros, 34, and Dustin Gologergen, 55, were found on Tuesday around 3:15 p.m. local time. Their bodies were transported to Nome. Authorities added that they will be taken to the State Medical Examiners Office in Anchorage for autopsies.
Authorities received a report Monday just after 7 a.m. that the pair was was going from Teller to Nome on a snowmachine but "didn’t reach their destination." Search teams were then dispatched to conduct a ground search and rescue operation. However, those rescue efforts were hampered by the poor weather at the time.
“Teller SAR Team was initially unavailable, and Nome SAR was able to make it to mile 23 before having to return due to a ground storm,” authorities said. “The Alaska State Troopers chartered a helicopter to search from the air; however, weather prevented the helicopter from flying in the search area.”
The Associated Press reported that the wind chill in Nome Monday morning was about 20 below 0 Fahrenheit.
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The Alaska Department of Public Safety said that the Alaska National Guard deployed a C130 aircraft to survey the area, which spotted “a snowmachine near mile 41 [of the Nome Teller highway] with no signs of the two missing people.”
“A Teller-based SAR team was unable to reach the site overnight due to the poor weather, and road-clearing crews from Nome were also unable to make it to the site from the Nome side,” the department continued.
A spokesperson for the Alaska Department of Public Safety told PEOPLE in an email Thursday that there is no evidence of foul play at this time.
Brenda Crim, a friend of the couple who runs Alaska Missions & Retreats, a non-profit organization that helps people overcome childhood trauma, tells PEOPLE that the couple married this summer while on a mission trip with the organization.
"They were so great people," she says. "They helped people get through sobriety. Dustin worked in a homeless shelter at night."
"They also gained a lot of respect from the local community because of how positive they were," Crim shares. "They were probably the strongest humans I know — warm, positive, And very well-known in the community."
The "loss" is devastating for everyone in Nome, a "very small community," according to Crime. "[People are] really taking this hard," she says. "They were two of our stars."
