Ashley Phillips has been missing in Costa Rica since June 2, and the search for the 30-year-old California tourist has been temporarily paused because the weather there has not let up. The family said the latest delay comes as severe conditions continue to make the effort impossible to carry out safely.

That is why her name is being searched now. Phillips vanished while hiking in Costa Rica after severe flash flooding and mudslides struck the region, and the problem has only deepened since then. Costa Rican authorities put the whole country under a nationwide green alert on June 4, citing heavier rains, saturated soils and a growing risk of flooding and landslides across several regions.

By June 12, her family said it had been 10 days since Phillips disappeared. They said search efforts were expected to resume once conditions improve and the drier season begins, a timeline that gives her relatives little to hold onto while rain keeps the ground unstable. The family also said it is honoring her deep love for animals, a small but telling detail in a case that has become as much about waiting as it is about searching.

That waiting matters because the same weather that likely made the hike dangerous is now slowing the response. Search-and-rescue teams have been forced to stand down because of torrential rains, leaving the case suspended in the middle of a broader emergency across Costa Rica. The nationwide alert means the search is not being paused for lack of effort; it is being overtaken by the conditions on the ground.

Phillips had been missing for 13 days by June 15, and the next meaningful step depends on a break in the weather, not on a new clue. Her family’s hope is straightforward: that crews can get back out once the drier season begins and the land becomes workable again. Until then, the unanswered question is the one her family has been living with since June 2: whether the search can resume soon enough to change the outcome.