Authorities called off the active search in the Verdugo Mountains area for a Burbank FBI agent who went missing on May 11, and will orient their search around any help the public can provide, authorities told the Burbank Leader on Wednesday.
The Sierra Madre Search and Rescue Team, along with Montrose and San Dimas SAR and officials from the Sheriff's department and the FBI, have been combing the mountains since Ivens disappeared.
Thea Ivens, his wife, appeared before the media at the Burbank Police Department and asked the public for help. She also asked her husband to send any signal that he was still alive, according to the Burbank Leader.
“Babe, wherever you are, just please reach out and let us know you are OK,” she urged.
She described Ivens — an agent specializing in national security who has been working at the FBI for more than three years — as kind, generous, quiet and loving, but said he hadn’t been himself since February, the Leader reports. She did not want to reveal anything she said might be part of the investigation, saying only that his work and his home life did not contribute to his issues.
Ivens was last seen by his family on the evening of May 10, and was reported missing from his Burbank home on May 11, just after 7 a.m. He is a special agent with the FBI's Los Angeles division. Ivens may have entered into the Verdugo mountains area above La Cañada-Flintridge on foot, and was described as despondent and suicidal by authorities.
A handgun is missing from Ivens’ home. Officials are concerned about Ivens’ well-being, but say there’s no indication that he has been involved in criminal activity. The Verdugo mountains are known to be extremely rugged. Altadena search and rescue team members, Sierra Madre Search and Rescue, along with Montrose Search and Rescue, reserve deputies, volunteer rescuers, Special Enforcement Bureau, Emergency Services Detail, paramedics, bloodhounds and a helicopter crew have aided in the search since it began.
Anyone with information as to his whereabouts is asked to contact the Burbank Police Department at 818-238-3000 or the FBI Tipline at 310-477-6565.
Ivens is white, six feet tall, 160 lbs. with brown eyes and brown hair. He wears prescription glasses.
