Sandra McCarty, age 8 months.
Whisper Owen, 36, of Elk Grove, California

Authorities in Central California confirmed they recovered what preliminarily appears to be the bodies of a woman and her infant who disappeared more than a month ago.

According to information from The Fresno County Sheriff's Office, Whisper Owen, 36, and her 8-month-old daughter Sandra McCarty were last seen about 5 p.m. on July 15 in Fresno.

Owen, the agency initially reported, was driving a silver, 2006 Chevrolet Trailblazer from Fresno home to Elk Grove with her daughter before she disappeared.

The city where Owens and her daughter live is just south of Sacramento.

Fresno County Sheriff spokesperson Tony Botti told USA TODAY the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s department searched a waterway near Highway 120 in San Joaquin County and confirmed Owen’s vehicle was located in it with two individuals inside over the weekend.

The victims identity will be released by the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Department and the Coroner’s Office, Botti said Monday, Aug. 18.

"We have sent two Fresno (police) detectives to the scene at Highway 120 and Victory Road to continue our investigation and work with the sheriff’s department regarding details of the recovery," Botti said. "We continue to provide support to Whisper and Sandra’s family through our detectives and will also provide additional support to the family through our Fresno Police and Fire Chaplaincy."

Dive team helped locate missing mother, daughter in canal

On Sunday, Aug. 17, San Joaquin County Sheriff's Office deputies located an adult and an infant in the vehicle in a canal, Heather Brent, a public information officer for the agency, said at the scene of the recovery.

The official cause of death for the mother and daughter remained under investigation on Sunday.

It was not immediately known whether foul play is suspected in the case.

But a dive team member who helped locate the SUV and pull the vehicle from the water told CBS News Sacramento it appeared Owen took a wrong turn and backed into the water where a recovery team found her and her daughter in the SUV.

After the bodies were found, the victim's brother, Richard Owen, thanked deputies, first responders and volunteers for their efforts.

"We find some closure in the fact that we know where they are," the victim's brother Richard Owen told local ABC10. "Just knowing that that baby had to leave this world... and not actually grow into the person she could have been... it's sad to know that her siblings will not get to know what kind of personality she had and we'll never get to see who she would have grown up to be."

How did Whisper Owens and her daughter die?

An autopsy will determine how the infant and her mother officially died.

The California Highway Patrol (CHP), which had issued an Endangered Missing Advisory for the pair, is investigating how the vehicle wound up in the water.

USA TODAY has reached out to the CHP.

Natalie Neysa Alund is a senior reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at nalund@usatoday.com and follow her on X @nataliealund.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Bodies of missing mother, infant found in California canal

Reporting by Natalie Neysa Alund, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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