A California woman who was missing for more than a month after making a confusing 911 call from the desert has been found dead, authorities announced.
Amanda Nenigar of Blythe, California, was reported missing on February 28 and last seen driving a 2010 blue Toyota Camry dressed in a pink hooded sweatshirt, according to the La Paz Sheriff’s County Office. The day before she was reported missing, Nenigar called 911 and told a California Highway Patrol dispatcher she was trapped in a ditch, including her position, but a mix-up between authorities may have resulted in cops looking in the wrong place, according to KPHO-TV.
“I’m, like, kind of in a valley,” Nenigar says in the 911 call. “I climbed to, like, a high mountain, and I’m wearing pink.”
On March 7, Nenigar’s automobile was discovered in a secluded area south of Cibola in La Paz County, Arizona. The car’s rear-wheel was reportedly stuck on a large boulder, only a mile from the coordinates she supplied on the 911 call, but California authorities were looking in the wrong area, some 30 miles away, according to the site. Nenigar’s family is concerned that the CHP may have mishandled her appeal for assistance.
According to the sheriff’s office, Nenigar’s body was discovered under a tree about a mile and a half from her car on Friday evening. According to KPHO, Nenigar’s clothing was located nearby, possibly due to warming, and she may have died as a result of exposure.
“Who knows what she went through, suffering for so long out there alone? I don’t understand why she was naked. “That’s crazy,” her sister Marissa Nenigar told KPHO. “Whoever that dispatcher was, he failed my sister horribly, horribly.”
An autopsy will be performed to ascertain the cause of death.
“The family has been notified and has issued a statement requesting privacy while thanking the public for their assistance in locating Amanda,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement. “We ask that you please respect the family during this time and avoid spreading rumors and assumptions.”