A month after they went missing, the bodies of Whisper Owen and her infant daughter, Sandra McCarty, have been found in California. The mother and daughter went missing on July 15, 2025. According to their family, the pair was traveling from Fresno to Sacramento after a doctor’s appointment. When they didn’t make it back home, the family called police to report them missing. Now, relatives have peace of mind and can move forward with laying them to rest.
The search group Adventures With Purpose and diver Juan Heredia went to look for for Whisper Owen and her daughter on August 17 in rural Oakdale, CBS News Sacramento reported. Her family told the news outlet that police pinged Owen’s phone, and the last ping was in that area.
Owen’s vehicle, an SUV, was discovered pinned under a bridge, according to the group.
“Our dive team has responded, and they did locate one adult in the vehicle and one infant in the vehicle,” Heather Brent with the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office told KXTV in Sacramento, according to KFSN.
“Our sonar was able to shoot a beam underneath and identify that we have an object that appears to be in the size and shape of the 2006 Trailblazer,” Adventures With Purpose member Jared Leisek added, KFSN reported. Authorities were alerted to the canal where the vehicle was found by the search group.
The San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Department released a statement about the discovery that was obtained and shared by People. “San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Department also confirmed that two bodies were located inside the Trailblazer,” the statement read.
“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,” it added. “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.”
According to Leisek, “It appears as though Whisper was making her way to the backseat to save her daughter, Sandra.”
Richard Owen, Whisper Owen’s brother, spoke with CBS News Sacramento about this discovery. “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,” he shared.
“They were beautiful people who made a very big difference in this world and a lot of people’s lives,” he told KFSN. “That’s what they deserve to be remembered as.”
Richard Owen has set up a GoFundMe account to aid the family in laying his sister and niece to rest. The family plans to bury them in the same plot “where my sister’s other 3 children can visit their baby sister and mother together,” reads a note on the page, which has raised more than $15,000 thus far.
