Weeks of searching ended in heartbreak when a missing Northern California mother and her infant daughter were discovered inside a submerged SUV. Authorities confirmed that 27-year-old Whisper Owens and her eight-month-old daughter, Sandra McCarthy, were found on August 17, 2025. Their 2006 Chevrolet Trailblazer was pulled from a canal beneath a Highway 120 bridge near Oakdale, more than a month after their disappearance.
Whisper and Sandra had last been seen on July 15, when she drove to Fresno for a doctor’s appointment and to visit family. She was expected back in Sacramento that evening but never arrived. As days passed with no sign of them, relatives grew increasingly worried. Investigators later traced her phone near the canal, which led search teams with sonar equipment to the site where the SUV was eventually located.
Family members described Whisper as a devoted mother of four who would never have chosen to vanish. Her brother, Richard Owens, shared the family’s grief, mourning the loss of both his sister and the baby who never had the chance to grow. Though devastated, he expressed gratitude to the search teams and community members who never gave up in their efforts to bring answers.
How the vehicle ended up in the water remains under investigation. For the family, the discovery brings painful closure to weeks of uncertainty — and begins a long road of mourning, as they remember a beloved mother and her little girl who will be deeply missed.