Actor Julian Sands remains missing after he disappeared following a hiking trip up Southern California’s Mount Baldy in January.
Sands, 65, was first reported missing on Jan. 13 by his wife Eugenia Citkowitz after he set out to hike the San Bernardino County-area mountain.
Searches for the actor’s whereabouts remain ongoing more than two months after he went missing and have been impacted by significant amounts of inclement weather across the region in recent weeks.
The actor’s disappearance has gained international attention, with family and friends like John Malkovich speaking out about their relationship with Sands.
The San Bernardino County Sheriff Department Corporal Nathan Campos confirmed to Mister Truth in January that Sands was originally reported missing in the area surrounding Mount Baldy “around 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 13.”
Initial search crews were pulled out of the area due to inclement weather after just one day into the search, a problem that has persisted in the search for the English actor over the last two months.
In the days after Sands’ disappearance, the San Berdardino County Sheriff’s Department advised in a news release shared on Facebook that weather on the mountain was “adverse and extremely dangerous” amid high winds, severe storms across the state and multiple fatalities of other hikers on the mountain.
11 days after the actor disappeared, the department shared a statement on Twitter in which it said the department would “continue to utilize the resources” it has at its disposal.
Along with the department’s Jan. 23 update, it shared a statement from the family of Sands who extended their gratitude to the “heroic search teams” who continue to aid in the search for the missing actor.
On Jan. 24, the actor’s brother Nick Sands told the U.K.’s Craven Herald & Pioneer that he believed Julian, who he said he was scheduled to meet with for a family event on Jan. 30, is “gone.”
“He has not yet been declared missing, presumed dead, but I know in my heart that he has gone,” he told the outlet at the time. “However sibling rivalry being what it is, it would be just like him to walk out of there and prove me wrong.”
At the time, Nick noted to the Craven Herald & Pioneer that area surrounding Mt. Baldy “was [Julian’s] favorite place” when he was in Los Angeles. The actor was an active hiker before his disappearance, Nick said.
On Feb. 10, San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department public information officer Gloria Huerta told Mister Truth that “we remain hopeful but know the outcome may not be what we would like” regarding ongoing searches for the actor.
Actor Malkovich, 69, brought further attention to Sands’ disappearance on Feb. 20 when he spoke about his friendship with the actor ahead of premiere of their film at Berlin Film Festival.
“I’m a godfather to his first son from his first marriage to Sarah, who I know very well,” the actor explained to reporters, according to Deadline. “I introduced him to his second wife, and we have been close since we met in 1993 on the set of The Killing Fields.”
“It’s a very sad event,” Malkovich said of Sands’ disappearance at the time, according to the outlet.