Disappearance After Doctor’s Appointment
On July 15, Whisper Owen, 36, and her 8-month-old daughter, Sandra McCarty, vanished after a doctor’s visit in Fresno, California. That morning, Owen stopped at her mother’s house before the appointment, visited her brother until the afternoon, and then set out for home.
Later that evening, a license plate reader caught her SUV in Atwater, about 65 miles away. Surveillance footage also showed her changing Sandra’s diaper in a parking lot — the last confirmed sighting of the mother and child.
Family Raises Alarm
At first, Owen’s absence did not cause panic. Her mother, Vickie Torres, said she sometimes stayed in Fresno for days. But after three days of silence, her partner called Torres, and the family began to fear the worst.
“It just makes it really hard to shut my brain off and not constantly imagine what could’ve happened to her — and that beautiful little baby,” Torres told The L.A. Times.
Search Leads to Tragic Discovery
For weeks, investigators searched without success. Then, volunteer divers with Adventures With Purpose, a nonprofit specializing in missing person cases, joined the effort. Using sonar, they located Owen’s silver 2006 Chevrolet Trailblazer submerged in a canal beneath a bridge near Highway 120 in San Joaquin County, about 40 miles from her last known location.
Inside, authorities found Whisper and baby Sandra. “She was doing everything she could as a mother to try to save her daughter,” the dive team wrote on Facebook.
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Community in Mourning
The California Highway Patrol is investigating how the SUV ended up in the water. Meanwhile, Owen’s loved ones are grieving the devastating loss. A GoFundMe campaign has been launched to help cover funeral expenses for the mother of four and her baby girl.