On July 15, Whisper Owen and her young daughter, Sandra McCarty, disappeared without a trace following a doctor’s appointment in Fresno, California.
The last confirmed sighting occurred in Atwater, where Owen was seen changing Sandra’s diaper in a parking lot.
After a month of desperate searching, authorities made a heartbreaking discovery.
The tragic end to the search came when Whisper Owen, 36, and her 8-month-old daughter, Sandra, were found dead inside their SUV, submerged beneath a bridge, according to officials and multiple reports.
The final hours
Owen, a mother of four from Sacramento County, left Elk Grove with her infant daughter around 4 a.m. that day. She first visited her mother’s home before attending Sandra’s doctor’s appointment at 8:30 a.m., according to KTLA.
Later, she went to see her brother in Fresno until about 2:45 p.m., then briefly returned to her mother’s house. By 5 p.m., she was on the road again, heading home with Sandra.
Around 8 p.m., a license plate reader recorded her silver 2006 Chevrolet Trailblazer in Atwater, roughly 65 miles from Fresno. Investigators believe she may have stopped to use the restroom or buy baby formula.
Surveillance footage from a nearby smoke shop also captured Owen changing Sandra’s diaper in the parking lot. That was the last time mother and daughter were seen alive.
Growing concern
Initially, Owen’s disappearance did not immediately raise alarms. Her mother, Vickie Torres, told The L.A. Times that her daughter occasionally stayed in Fresno for days.
However, after three days without contact, Owen’s partner—who has not been identified—reached out to Torres to see if she had heard from her.
“That’s when everything started to get scary,” Torres said.
“It’s hard for me, as her mother, to shut my brain off and not constantly imagine what could’ve happened to her,” she continued. “And that beautiful little baby… God, I hope, whatever happened, she’s with her mama.”
The Fresno Police Department stated that investigators had found no evidence of foul play in the disappearance of Whisper and her daughter.
Discovery underwater
The breakthrough came when volunteer divers from Adventures With Purpose, a nonprofit dedicated to locating missing persons, joined the search.
Using sonar, they discovered Owen’s SUV submerged in a canal beneath a bridge near Highway 120 and Victory Avenue in San Joaquin County, about 40 miles from where she was last seen.
“With the help of Juan Heredia from Angeles Recovery, we confirmed Whisper was inside the vehicle,” the group posted on Facebook. “She was doing everything she could as a mother to try to save her daughter Sandra.”
Authorities later confirmed that both Owen and Sandra were inside the SUV when it was recovered.
The California Highway Patrol is investigating how the vehicle ended up submerged, while family and friends mourn the devastating loss.
A GoFundMe campaign has been launched to help cover funeral expenses for the mother and her baby girl.
Prayers and condolences are being sent to the family, and to everyone touched by this terrible tragedy.