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

The month-long search for a missing California mother and her infant daughter has ended in tragedy after their bodies were discovered inside a submerged SUV.

On Sunday, Aug. 17, the Fresno Police Department confirmed that the remains of 36-year-old Whisper Owen and her 8-month-old daughter, Sandra McCarty, were found in San Joaquin County. Authorities located their 2006 Chevrolet Trailblazer underwater during the search effort, according to a statement obtained by PEOPLE.

ABC affiliate KFSN reported that the bodies were identified as 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,” Fresno police said in an update.

The department explained that Owen’s vehicle had been recovered from the water, with two bodies inside. Final confirmation of their identities will be made by the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Department and the Coroner’s Office, which are overseeing the investigation.

Authorities added that the California Highway Patrol is also conducting a separate investigation to determine how the SUV ended up submerged.

The discovery came after the search group Adventures With Purpose and diver Juan Heredia joined the search efforts, CBS News Sacramento reported. Owen’s family told the outlet that investigators had previously tracked her cell phone to the same waterway.

Owen and Sandra disappeared on Tuesday, July 15, after leaving a doctor’s appointment around 5 p.m. They were supposed to travel to Elk Grove (Sacramento County) to meet relatives, according to KMPH and KFSN.

Traffic cameras later captured Owen’s Trailblazer — which had a damaged driver-side headlight — passing through Atwater at about 8 p.m., according to the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office. At the time of her disappearance, Owen’s partner, Robert McCarty, and her two other children were waiting for her at home, per KMPH.

After the discovery of the bodies, Owen’s brother, Richard, told CBS News Sacramento, “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.”

Family members said they did not immediately panic when Owen failed to arrive in Fresno, since she sometimes stayed several days with relatives there. Four days after she and Sandra vanished, the family filed a missing persons report on July 19.

Friends previously described Owen as a “loving, attentive mother” and said her disappearance was “completely out of character,” according to KMPH.