Rescue crews in Arizona search for missing hiker

PEORIA, Ariz. (NBC, KYMA/KECY) - Rescue crews are urgently searching for a missing 20-year-old hiker in Peoria, Arizona.

A Peoria police report says 20-year-old Luke Wuennenberg has not been seen since Saturday afternoon.

"Well it's just the unknown, you just don't know...you just wonder why and if he's hurt or if he can't respond," said Melissa Wuennenberg, Luke's mother.

A search by the air and the ground is well underway for Luke, an avid and experienced hiker in the mountains northwest of Peoria.

Melissa and his entire family left with little answers on how he could disappear on a hike he's completed countless times before.

"I think the most thing that worries me is we don't know if he's right here, or if he continued walking and he's way far away. Saturday's a long time from now," Melissa expressed.

The Peoria Police Department (PPD), the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office (MCSO), and an army of volunteers have spent the last three days scouring the desert for any sign of Luke.

"First of all, I find out about this...and I'm going 'I gotta go help Luke's family find him,'" said Arthur Huseonica, a community member.

Community members, like Huseonica, ventured deep into the desert Monday morning for multiple hours to locate him, returning back with no sign of him.

His family says his phone is either dead or has been turned off, and they worry he has run out of food or water and may be hiding in the desert waiting to be found.

"We just think that maybe he might be hiding...It might be more difficult for the police to do their job and everyone because we just don't know," Melissa further expressed.

His disappearance even more bewildering because he doesn't have any kind of cognitive disabilities and has always returned home from his previous hikes in the area.

Luke is described as five-foot, 11-inches tall, a slender 130 pounds and was last seen wearing grey shorts and a black short-sleeved shirt.

"Well, you just can't because you don't know what to think. It's just heartbreaking," Melissa remarked.

His family says he could be anywhere in the desert area between northwest Peoria and Surprise.