The search continues for a California woman and her 8-month-old daughter who vanished while on their way home after a doctor’s appointment, authorities and family said.
It’s been more than two weeks since Whisper Owen and her daughter, Sandra McCarty, were last seen, according to the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office.
Authorities say they have no clues in the Sacramento pair’s disappearance, and loved ones have been left wondering and searching.
“It just makes it really hard for me as her mother to shut my brain off and not constantly imagine what could’ve happened to her,” said Owen’s mother, Vickie Torres, tearfully. “And that beautiful little baby. God, I hope, whatever happened, she’s with her mama.”
In a post to social media, the Sheriff’s Office said that no information had been found to explain the disappearance. The Fresno Police Department’s Missing Persons Unit is leading the investigation and, as of Wednesday evening, had no new developments to report.
“There is nothing in the current missing persons investigations which leads us to believe any foul play is involved with Whisper and her child not being located yet,” the department said in a statement to The Times.
Law enforcement is seeking the public’s help. Officials and family members have been searching the area where the Sacramento mom and her baby were last seen.
(Fresno County Sheriff’s Office)
Torres confirmed that Owen and her daughter left Sacramento around 4 a.m. on July 15 and headed south toward Fresno to go to a doctor’s appointment for the baby. Owen stopped at Torres’ house in Fresno to change Sandra’s diaper and then checked in for the appointment at 8:30 a.m., Torres said.
Owen then visited her brother’s Fresno home until around 2:45 p.m., then stopped to see Torres at her home again before leaving the city around 5 p.m., Torres said. Owen drove a silver 2006 Chevrolet Trailblazer, and a license plate reader recognized her car in Atwater, about 65 miles from Fresno, at 8 that night, according to officials.
Torres said that Owen probably stopped in Atwater to get baby formula for Sandra or to use the restroom. Security footage from a smoke shop in Atwater captured Owen parking and then changing her baby’s diaper around 7:30 p.m., police said.
That was the last sign of Owen, her daughter or her vehicle.
Torres said Owen often spends days at a time at her house in Fresno, so her partner wasn’t concerned when she didn’t return home that night. Three days later, Owen’s partner called Torres, asking where her daughter was.
“I’m like, ‘What do you mean? She’s not here,’” Torres told The Times. “So then everything started to get scary at that point.”
Owen’s silver 2006 Chevrolet Trailblazer was spotted in Atwater at 8 p.m. on July 15.
(Fresno County Sheriff’s Office)
Ever since, Torres said, her family has been tirelessly searching the roads from Fresno to Sacramento, reaching out to businesses whose employees may have seen Owen, putting up fliers and spreading the word on social media.
She also said that Owen experienced preeclampsia during her most recent pregnancy, causing her to be hospitalized several times with high blood pressure that continued even after she had given birth. Torres worried that Owen might have had a medical emergency while driving. With no information, it’s easy to create troubling scenarios, she said.
Torres said the situation has been distressing for the entire family.
Owen and her partner are parents to Sandra, as well as a 3-year-old and a 9-year-old. She also has a 16-year-old child from a previous relationship.
“All of these kids are losing their minds,” Torres said. “I mean, she didn’t just run off or anything like that. … She’s got other children, I mean, no.”
Owen’s partner, whom Torres declined to name and who didn’t immediately respond to The Times’ request for comment, “has been constantly searching, and he’s exhausting every resource to him,” she said.
Torres said she has been frustrated with the lack of information found so far. She has reached out to other agencies, including the Department of Justice, the FBI and the Sacramento Police Department, asking for assistance in the investigation.
“They’ve all blown me off,” Torres said.
Sacramento police said in a statement to The Times, however, that they had assisted Fresno in the investigation. A Department of Justice spokesperson said the agency had posted Owen and her daughter on its public California Missing Persons website. The FBI didn’t respond to The Times’ request for comment.
Torres described her daughter as an outspoken, trusting person who would drop anything to help a stranger in need.
“A lot of people love her,” Torres said. “I’ve never met anybody that didn’t like my daughter.”
Fresno police said that teams were checking family shelters in Sacramento County and surrounding areas for Owen and her daughter.
The Fresno Sheriff’s Office advised the public to dial 911 if they saw Owen and her daughter or the vehicle.
