Relatives asking for help locating missing Creston family in Mexico

Family members in Creston are urging people to share a photo on social media with #TulumMexico after Kevin and Amy Sharp, and their two children, Sterling and Adrianna, have gone missing in Tulum, Mexico.

According to Renee Hoyt, Amy's sister, the last communication anyone has had with the Sharp family was around 5 p.m. Thursday, March 15.

Hoyt said the Sharp family left Creston on Tuesday, March 13, and drove to St. Louis, where the family stayed the night before it was to board a non-stop flight to Cancun the following day. From Cancun, the Sharp family was renting a car and driving to Tulum, Mexico, where it was renting a condo.

"On Wednesday at 7 p.m., Amy sent a text to our mom that said, 'We made it to our condo,'" Hoyt said. "That is the last communication she made. We got told last night Kevin sent a text to Travis Anderson around 5 p.m. Thursday and Travis responded around 11:30 and has not heard anything back."

The Sharp family was scheduled to depart the Cancun airport at 2:45 p.m. Wednesday to return to St. Louis on a non-stop flight. The family's plan was to then drive to Danville, Illinois, to watch the Southwestern Community College men's basketball team play in the national tournament if the Spartans won their opening game Wednesday.

At 10 p.m. Wednesday night, Kevin's mom contacted Amy's mom to see if either Kevin or Amy had texted her to let her know they made it to St. Louis. That is when family members in Creston began to suspect something was not right.

The family waited to see if the Sharps arrived in St. Louis on the next non-stop flight from Cancun before involving authorities. So far, the family has not been able to confirm through the airline whether or not the Sharp family ever actually boarded a flight out of Cancun. Authorities are in the process of trying to gather that information.

"Nobody's cell phones are on and they didn't land in St. Louis last night," Hoyt said. "There's been no Facebook posts and that's not like them. They're always posting pictures when they're on vacation."

The United States Department of State currently has a Level 2: Exercise Increased Caution travel advisory out for the Quintana Roo state in Mexico, which includes popular tourist destinations Cancun, Cozumel and Tulum.

According to Hoyt, Kevin's cell phone was tracked using Apple's Find My iPhone app, and it pinged in Mexico. Since it was pinged yesterday morning, the phone has not moved from that location.

"Get on social media and (share) #TulumMexico, get it out there," Hoyt said. "Maybe somebody would have seen them at a beach or a pool. Right now, we're just kind of waiting for authorities to contact us and tell us where we're at."

An emotional Hoyt said she has one message for Amy and her family if they somehow see this: "Call somebody. Let us know you're safe."