A California mother and her 8-month-old daughter — who vanished over a month ago — were discovered dead inside their car, submerged in a canal, according to authorities and reports.
Two bodies were found in a sunken 2006 Chevrolet Trailblazer — the vehicle that Whisper Owen, 36, and her infant daughter, Sandra McCarty, were last spotted inside — in San Joaquin County on Sunday, the Fresno Police Department confirmed to The Post.
When police pinged Owen’s phone, authorities discovered that it last responded near the canal area, her relatives told CBS Sacramento.
The vehicle was discovered pinned under a bridge with the bodies of the mother and daughter inside, the relatives told the outlet.
The San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Department and the Coroner’s Office are still working to officially confirm the identity of the two individuals found inside the sunken vehicle through DNA testing, cops said.
Search group Adventures With Purpose and diver Juan Heredia were searching for the missing mother-daughter duo in rural west Oakdale when they made the grim discovery, according to CBS Sacramento.
Owen and little Sandra were first reported missing on July 15 after they left a doctor’s appointment around 5 p.m. and headed to Elk Grove.
The mother and child were last spotted just northwest of Fresno, in Atwater, where a traffic camera pinged Owen’s silver 2006 Chevrolet Trailblazer at around 8 p.m., according to the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office.
The SUV had noticeable damage to the driver’s side headlight, deputies said.
Owen’s partner was waiting back at their house with her two other children when the mother and daughter failed to come home that night. The rest of the family learned about the disappearance a few days later, relatives previously told KMPH.
It wasn’t unusual for Owen to spend a few days visiting family in Fresno, which is why no one was initially suspicious of her disappearance, KMPH reported.
The family and friends of Owen and little Sandra are now facing the heartbreaking news.
“It means we can find some way to move forward and accept this loss. She has other children that have to find a way to move on without their mother or their baby sister,” Richard Owen, Whisper’s brother, told CBS Sacramento following the discovery of his sister.
Owen’s friends previously told KMPH that Owen was a “loving” and “attentive” mother — adding her disappearance was “completely out of character.”
The California Highway Patrol will now investigate how the vehicle ended up in the canal. The Fresno Police Department has also sent two detectives to the scene to continue the probe.
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