Missing Mom and 8-Month-Old Daughter Found Dead in Submerged Car a Month After Leaving Doctor’s Appointment

The bodies of a mother and her 8-month-old daughter missing in California for over a month have been found inside a waterway.

On Sunday, Aug. 17, the Fresno Police Department confirmed that two bodies had been found amid the search for Whisper Owen, 36, and her daughter, Sandra McCarty. Authorities discovered their submerged 2006 Chevrolet Trailblazer in San Joaquin County, per a statement obtained by PEOPLE.

According to ABC affiliate KFSN, the remains were those of Owen and Sandra.

“We have been in contact today with the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Department regarding a search of a waterway in the area of Highway 120 and Victory Road in San Joaquin County,” police said in an update regarding the missing persons case.

“The sheriff’s department has confirmed that missing person – Whisper Owen’s vehicle, a 2006 Chevy Trailblazer, has been located inside the waterway near this location,” the statement shared by a police spokesperson added.

“San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Department also confirmed that two bodies were located inside the Trailblazer,” it continued. “Confirmation of the identity of the two decedents will be released by the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Department and the Coroner’s Office within their jurisdiction, as they are conducting the investigation of the recovery of the two decedents and Whisper’s vehicle.”

“The California Highway Patrol is also conducting a parallel investigation with the sheriff’s department to determine how Whisper’s vehicle ended up in the water,” the statement concluded.

The search group Adventures With Purpose and diver Juan Heredia had been searching for the missing mother and daughter when they made the discovery, according to CBS News Sacramento.

Owen’s family told the outlet that police had pinged the missing mother’s phone, and it had last responded from a waterway in the area she was found.

Owen and Sandra vanished after they left a doctor’s appointment around 5 p.m. local time and headed towards Elk Grove (Sacramento County) to meet family members on Tuesday, July 15, per Fox Affiliate KMPH and KFSN. 

Owen’s distinct 2006 Chevrolet Trailblazer, which had damage to its driver’s side headlight, was later spotted on traffic cameras in Atwater around 8 p.m. local time, per reports from the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office.

According to KMPH, Owen’s partner, Robert McCarty, and her two other children were waiting for her at home when she disappeared.

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After the bodies were discovered on Sunday, Owen’s brother, Richard, said, “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,” according to CBS News Sacramento.

As Owen often visited her family in Fresno and would sometimes spend multiple days there, her partner, Robert, said they did not initially worry when she did not arrive, KMPH previously reported. On Saturday, July 19 — four days after the mother and daughter were last seen — the family filed a missing persons report.

The outlet previously noted that friends of Owen said she was a “loving, attentive mother,” and that it was “completely out of character” for her to suddenly go missing.

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The San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office and search group Adventures With Purpose didn’t immediately respond when contacted by PEOPLE for additional information.