Relatives and local volunteers are searching the wilderness near Sedona for a Maryland man who disappeared after he apparently drove cross-country on a spiritual quest.
UPDATE: Maryland man thought missing used ATM in Calif. Family members believe Tim Waugaman, 26, of Germantown, Maryland, went into the wilderness to meditate but was not prepared with enough food, water or other survival supplies. They have hired a private search-and-rescue team and were joined by about 40 volunteers who came up from the Phoenix-metropolitan area Saturday.”I’m extremely worried about him,” said Susan Sullivan-Rakoff, his mother. “We’re trying to do everything we can think of to try and locate him in the forest.”Waugaman left his home in Maryland sometime over Memorial Day weekend without telling his parents or brothers where he was going. Family realized he was gone May 28 and filed a missing persons report with the local police.The Sedona Police Department found Waugaman’s car in the parking lot of the Sedona United Methodist Church on June 1, where church officials said it had been parked for about a week.Relatives grew more concerned after seeing he had left behind several needed supplies, included his sleeping bag, and when his pay-as-you-go cellphone ran out of minutes. They contacted friends in India, who meditated and said they saw him in a vision off the trail in the wilderness with little food and water, Sullivan-Rakoff said. They said he was becoming dehydrated and needed help.His parents immediately flew into Phoenix and traveled to Sedona to search for him.”Things are just staring to build that are causing concern,” Sullivan-Rakoff said. “It’s not knowing (if he was prepared) and not knowing whether or not he’s been injured, not knowing that his body’s not being threatened (that) is a deep concern to me.”His mother described Waugaman as spiritual and “an intense meditator.” Five “pillars” that govern his life are truth, love, peace, righteousness and non-violence, she said.”He’s quietly intense,” she said. “He’s very intelligent, he has a big heart, he is very god-focused. He’s a wonderful son.”Waugaman had told his mother a few weeks before he left that he was feeling a pull to go out west, possibly to Sedona.The church parking lot where his car was found is located inside what’s called a “vortex,” a triangle created by three spiritual locations – in this case, Cathedral Rock, Bell Rock and Chapel of the Holy Cross.”To be able to meditate in that environment would be very attractive to him,” Sullivnan-Rakoff said, adding that he did something similar in India. “He didn’t come out (to Sedona) to be a tourist. He came for spiritual reasons.”Dennis Andres, a local guide who is helping coordinate the search, said oftentimes people who venture into the forest don’t anticipate the heat and don’t bring enough food or water.Sedona Police Department Sgt. Jim Pott said “it’s not a rarity” for someone to disappear in the wilderness, but most people are found within a couple days. There were a few incidents in recent years in which people wandered off the hiking trails and later were found dead.Police only have found his car but no signs of anything suspicious, Pott said.”We just don’t have anything to go on. We don’t know if he’s still in town. We don’t know if he’s somewhere else. We don’t know if he went for a hike,” he said. “We don’t have any evidence of where he may be or may not be.”Waugaman is described as White, 6 foot 7 inches with brown hair and brown eyes. He wears a size 15 shoe.Searchers are canvassing the hiking trails and surrounding wilderness around the city and trying to determine if he spent any time in the city talking to residents or learning about the area, Andres said.Anyone with information or who wants to help in the search is asked to call 443-831-9915, or the Sedona Police Department at 928-282-3100.”Hopefully this will have a happy ending,” Pott said.

Boating safety officials hope a new life jacket loaner program will help continue a steady decline in the the number of serious and fatal boat accidents on Arizona lakes.
Officials from several agencies, including Arizona Game and Fish Department and Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office, used Memorial Day weekend to kick off the new program, in which officers patrolling lakes will keep life vests on board to loan to boaters who don’t have sufficient life jackets of their own.

Police made 460 DUI arrests as part of statewide Cinco de Mayo saturation DUI patrol efforts over an extended holiday weekend, authorities said.
Officers were out in force Wednesday through Sunday night looking for people who chose to drink and drive. Several agencies conducted enforcement in their own cities, and many teamed up on Saturday and Sunday nights for joint task forces across multiple cities, including in Scottsdale and Avondale.

Police have made 274 DUI arrests as part of statewide Cinco de Mayo saturation DUI patrol efforts this weekend, with additional enforcement planned for Sunday night, officials said.
Police officers were out in force Friday and Saturday night looking for people who chose to drink and drive. Agencies will team up Sunday night for joint task forces across multiple cities, and most will double the normal amount of officers on the street.

A Tempe man who was beat up early Sunday morning by several Arizona State University fraternity members returned to the residence with bats, guns, and more friends to seek revenge, authorities said.
Two ASU students suffered serious head injuries, three others were treated for injuries at the hospital, and Tempe police arrested five people in connection with the brawl at an apartment complex near Hayden Lane and Smith Road that houses the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity, Tempe Police Department spokesman Mike Pooley said.

Police are still searching for five suspects after two people who gathered to help a family mourn the loss of a loved one were stabbed to death at a Phoenix apartment complex Sunday morning, authorities said Monday.
Phoenix police received a 911 call just after midnight of someone being stabbed at an apartment at 2828 W. Camelback Road, Phoenix Police Department spokesman Sgt. Steve Martos said. Arriving officers found two men with stab wounds. Both died at the scene.

The National Weather Service has issued a wind advisory for Monday as strong winds are expected to blow through the Valley.
Winds are expected to pick up in the early afternoon and reach at least 30 mph, with gusts reaching upwards of 45 mph or more, meteorologist Mark O’Malley said. Temperatures are expected to be in the upper 70s.

The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office has identified the people who died in two fatal collisions that they believe were caused by the same driver.
Clare Louis Kirby, 46, of Mesa, was riding her bicycle near Bush Highway and Usery Pass Road northeast of Mesa when she was struck and killed about 9:15 a.m. Wednesday by a green sport-utility vehicle that fled the scene, according to the Sheriff’s Office. William Phillips, 72, was killed about 9:30 a.m. when his SUV was T-boned by the same green SUV in the intersection of Ellsworth and McKellips roads in Mesa.