Couple disappears from boat during Sacramento delta fishing trip

Authorities continue to search for a married couple who went missing on Thanksgiving Day while fishing on the Sacramento delta, their boat found running, slowly making circles in the water.

Four days after the Coast Guard found the unoccupied boat, 64-year-old Van Chanpenxi and his wife, Chantra, 51, remain missing.

“Their clothes were inside the boat, outer clothing jackets and what have you. There were fish inside the boat. Obviously they were fishing. We just don’t know what happened to them,” Sacramento County Sheriff’s Sgt. Lisa Bowman told Fox 40.

The boat was found just north of the Rio Vista Bridge, according to the sheriff’s department.

Their son, Jim Chanpenxi, told Fox 40 that the family was waiting anxiously for a new development. He last spoke to his parents on the phone the day they went missing.

“It’s hard. But we still try to be positive. Hopefully they come home. Maybe they’re OK still,” he said. “That’s what’s killing us right now. Not knowing is probably the hardest thing.”

Van Chanpenxi was described by sheriff’s officials as Laotian, 5 feet, 9 inches tall, 155 pounds, with brown eyes and glasses. He is bald and clean-shaven. It wasn’t known what he might be wearing.

Chantra Chanpenxi, also Laotian, is 5 feet, 3 inches tall, 120 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes, authorities said.

Anyone with information is asked to call the sheriff’s department at (916) 874-5115.

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jason.wells@latimes.com

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