Sacramento mother and her 8-month-old baby haven't been seen in nearly 2 weeks, alarming loved ones
A Northern California mom and her 8-month-old daughter have been missing for over 10 days after driving between Fresno County and Sacramento County earlier this month, family and authorities say.
Whisper Owen, 36, and her daughter, Sandra McCarty, were last seen driving in a 2006 Chevrolet Trailblazer on July 15, the Fresno County Sheriff's Office said in a July 23 Facebook post. Owen's family insists she did not 'run away,' but they speculate that she may have suffered a medical emergency behind the wheel.
The sheriff's office post includes photos of Owen and Sandra, as well as traffic camera photos of their car in Atwater, Calif., from around 8 p.m. PT on July 15 when they were 'supposed to be heading home to Elk Grove,' a city in Sacramento County. Atwater is less than halfway between Fresno and Elk Grove.
The Fresno County Sheriff's Office has turned over the case to the Fresno Police Department, since Owen's last location was in the latter's jurisdiction. The Fresno Police Department does not believe Owen and Sandra are in the Fresno area and does not believe foul play is involved, a spokesperson told Yahoo.
Why were the mom and child in Fresno County?
Owen, who lives in Elk Grove, had taken Sandra to Fresno for a routine checkup, Owen's mom, Vickie Torres, told CNN. Before going to the doctor's office, Owen stopped by Torres's house in Fresno to change and feed the baby before leaving for the 8:30 a.m. doctor's appointment.
After the appointment, Owen visited her brother, Richard Owen, at his house in Fresno. Richard confirmed to CNN that the three were together around 2:45 p.m. on July 15.
Owen then reportedly returned to Torres's house for the rest of the afternoon and told her mom she wanted to leave around 5 p.m. to get to Elk Grove before dark. Torres told CBS Sacramento that Owen had mentioned she needed to make a stop on her way home to pick up more baby formula.
Mom and child weren't reported missing until days later
Four days after Owen was last seen, her partner, Robert McCarty, contacted her family to report that she hadn't come home and he hadn't heard from her.
Initially, McCarty assumed Owen had stayed a few extra days because it was common for her to do so when she visited family in Fresno, McCarty told Fox affiliate KMPH.
Owen's brother, Richard, told CNN that it was not unusual not to hear from Owen for stretches at a time because she did not have a working phone, noting that the family usually got hold of her by contacting McCarty.
After McCarty contacted the family last week, Torres reported Owen and Sandra missing to the Fresno County Sheriff's Office.
What police have said
The Fresno Police Department has not publicly shared any new information on the case. The Fresno Police Department's Missing Persons Unit, which has been handling the case, is also working with the Sacramento Police Department and the Atwater Police Department, since that is where Owen's car was last seen, a spokesperson told Yahoo.
California Highway Patrol also issued an Endangered Missing Advisory alert on July 21.
Friends and family worry that 'something horrible has happened'
The family's main concern is that Owen may have undergone a medical emergency while driving home. She had been suffering from high blood pressure that had worsened after she gave birth to Sandra, her family told CNN.
'My fear is that maybe there was a medical emergency behind the wheel,' Richard said. 'I can't help but to feel like something horrible has happened.'
'We haven't heard anything about it since, and we haven't heard from her,' Tiffany Machado, a close friend of Owen's, told KMPH. 'Her phone just goes straight to voicemail. We're really concerned about the baby. She's only 8 months old.'
Both Richard and Torres said that they do not think Owen intentionally disappeared, noting that she has three other children in addition to Sandra: A 17-year-old from a previous relationship, and an 8- and a 3-year-old with McCarty.
'We, as a family, know she didn't leave on her own,' Torres told CNN. 'Everything is good in her life right now. There's no reason for her to have taken off.'
Richard Owen added he had been sleeping in his car while searching the surrounding area where his sister and niece were last seen.
'At this point, I'm not ruling out anything,' Richard told CNN. 'I'm trying to find her in any way possible.'
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