California mother, 8-month-old daughter missing for over a week, last seen in Merced County
Authorities in the Central Valley are seeking information after a Sacramento County woman and her infant daughter went missing more than a week ago.
According to the , 36-year-old Whisper Owen of Elk Grove was last seen with her daughter, 8-month-old Sandra McCarty around 5 p.m. on July 15 in Fresno.
The missing mother and daughter were then spotted on traffic cameras in Atwater, in Merced County, after 8 p.m. the same night, deputies said. Owen's mother told CBS Sacramento she believes her daughter stopped to use the bathroom or pick up formula for the baby, as she mentioned before she left Fresno she needed to make a stop on her way back to Sacramento.
The car was spotted on cameras at the intersection of Shaffer and Bellevue Roads.
Owen is described by deputies as 5'6" tall, weighing 145 pounds, with brown hair and blue eyes.
McCarty is about 22 inches tall, weighing 17 pounds, with brown hair and green eyes. Deputies said she may have been wearing a pink onesie at the time she was last seen.
The pair are believed to be traveling in a silver 2006 Chevrolet Trailblazer SUV with California license plate number 9LKH008.
In an update Wednesday afternoon, deputies said the SUV has damage to the driver's side headlight. The vehicle was last seen by a traffic camera near Shaffer and Bellevue roads in the city of Atwater around 8 p.m. on July 15.
Atwater is about 65 miles north of Fresno.
The California Highway Patrol has issued an Endangered Missing Advisory in the case.
Anyone who may see Owen or McCarty is asked to call 911.
Mother asks for help in search
Vickie Torres, Owen's mother and McCarty's grandmother, told CBS Sacramento she believes they are somewhere between Atwater and Sacramento.
She said she is the last person to talk to Owen before they left her home in Fresno on July 15.
"Something happened to my daughter she didn't disappear on her own. She didn't run away from this family, she didn't run away from her other children," Torres said.
She told CBS Sacramento the family has spent days in Atwater looking for the car or signs of the mother and daughter. So far, she said, they have been unsuccessful.
"I'm hoping the more exposure we get, the more hope that we have of finding her and that precious baby," Torres said.
Torres said her daughter has health issues and, one of the scenarios she fears, is that Owen had a medical emergency behind the wheel of the car. She said they are urging law enforcement to fly over the Atwater area to see hard-to-reach locations.
Torres said Owen did not leave on her own and was in good spirits before she left her home in Fresno on Tuesday. She said Owen shared about a recent family vacation and was planning to come back to Fresno to help her mother move in to a new home.
"For me to think that now, she drove away, and I'm not gonna see my daughter again because I can't find her. Something has happened. Nobody knows," Torres said.
Police are asking anyone who believes they have seen the car or the missing mother and child, to call 911.
