Student, 19, Missing In Lake Forest

LAKE FOREST, CA — Blaze Bernstein entered Borrego Park in the Foothill Ranch-Lake Forest area of Orange County Jan. 2 at 11 p.m. The college student, home for the holidays, was wearing a dark jacket, dark gray long-sleeved zip-up and white Adidas shoes.

His family said he hasn't been seen since, and now a massive search is underway to find the missing Ivy league student.

"Bernstein is in Orange County on winter break from the University of Pennsylvania," an Orange County Sheriff's Department spokesperson said in a recent release. "Witnesses said he met up with a friend and the two drove to Borrego Park, where the teen exited the vehicle and entered the park."

Bernstein's father, Gideon Bernstein, set up a Facebook page to centralize information resulting from the search for his son.

"Our son, Blaze, has been missing since Tuesday," he said on Facebook. "We will try to update this page in hopes that you can help us solve this mystery. If you have questions, you can post them here."

Annee Della Donna, an attorney and friend of the family, discussed the timeline since Blaze's mysterious disappearance.

"At 9:30 p.m., he sent a text message with his family's Lake Forest address for a high school buddy to pick him up and take him to the park to meet the third person," she said. "The park is five minutes away and they got there about 10:30 p.m. Bernstein went off alone into the park while his friend waited back in the car."

Bernstein's friend eventually began sending text messages to him when he didn't return, but did not hear back from him, she said. The friend left and then returned at about 4 a.m. to look for Bernstein again.

"He didn't have anything with him," she said. "He didn't have his glasses or his medication. He didn't bring his wallet or a phone charger. I don't think he planned on this being a long trip and he just disappeared."

Witnesses say they saw someone matching Bernstein's height and weight walking along the southbound lanes of the 241 toll road in the disabled car lane about 5:40 a.m. Wednesday, Della Donna said.

There was no evidence he was despondent in any way, the attorney said.

"He made dinner for the family that night," she said. "They had a great evening together. He was excited about going back to college and he was moving to a new apartment. He was on the Internet that night buying things. It all points to a kid who was not depressed, who was happy and wanted to go back to school."

Gideon Bernstein, Blaze's father, told City News Service that he hadn't noticed anything was amiss with his son, who he said "loves cooking."

"He recently became managing editor of the foodie magazine at the University of Pennsylvania, called Penn Appetit," he said. "So he was very excited about that. He was working on that over the winter break and showed us the magazine they just published, which he significantly contributed to."

He said his son is a sophomore planning to declare a major in psychology with a minor in chemistry and "pursuing it with a pre-med focus."

"He was having a good time with us and in good spirits," he said, adding that his son's grandparents joined them for dinner.
"After dinner, everyone took off and as far as we knew, he was up in his room," he said. "We didn't even really know he was gone until the next day. We figured he slept in."

The father said that when his son failed to show for a dental appointment, the family became concerned and came to realize he was missing.

Bernstein has blue eyes, brown hair, is 5-foot-8 and and weighs 130 pounds.

Have you seen Blaze? Anyone with information on his whereabouts is urged to contact the Orange County Sheriff's Department at 714-647-7000.

Anonymous tips can also be sent to Orange County Crime Stoppers at 855-TIP-OCCS.

Photo, courtesy OCSD