The body of a woman was found in a Northern California river on Friday after a family of four’s SUV fell into the rain-swollen Eel River last week.
A search team found the body about 7 miles south of where the family’s SUV Mendocino County Sheriff Thomas Allman told a news conference in the community of Leggett.
Initially, Allman said the body was that of a child but the sheriff’s office later corrected that it was a woman’s.
The body of a woman was found in a Northern California river on Friday after a family of four’s SUV fell into the rain-swollen Eel River last week, suspected to be Soumya Thottapilly, 38
Authorities searching for a family whose SUV plunged into a Northern California river found the body of a woman on Thursday
She was found on exposed ground that a few days ago had been covered by the storm-swollen river, according to a sheriff’s office statement.
The woman had not been formally identified but Allman earlier said the body was believed to have been one of the people in the car.
Four members of the Thottapilly family, including a man and wife and two children, went missing this month while traveling from Portland, Oregon, to their home in the Los Angeles suburb of Santa Clarita.
he missing were identified as Sandeep Thottapilly, 41, Soumya Thottapilly, 38, Siddhant Thottapilly, 12, and Saachi Thottapilly, 9, pictured here
The family were traveling from Portland, Oregon, to their home in the Los Angeles suburb of Santa Clarita
They were reported missing April 8 after failing to show up for a visit with relatives in San Jose. They were last heard from while visiting the redwood forests of California’s far north coast.
The missing were identified as Sandeep Thottapilly, 41, Soumya Thottapilly, 38, Siddhant Thottapilly, 12, and Saachi Thottapilly, 9.
Before the family was reported missing, authorities were already searching for a vehicle that had been seen falling into the roiling Eel River on April 6. The vehicle submerged and vanished before rescuers reached the scene.
Four members of the Thottapilly family, including a man and wife and two children, went missing this month while traveling from Portland, Oregon, to their home in the Los Angeles suburb of Santa Clarita
Officials later learned it matched the description of the Thottapilly’s maroon Honda Pilot. Debris at the accident site and other material found along the riverbanks also was consistent with that vehicle, officials have said.
Searchers also found items described as consistent with a family traveling on vacation and unspecified personal items that allowed officials to confirm that the vehicle seen plunging into the river was the Thottapilly’s SUV.
Sandeep’s father had posted several messages on social media pleading for help in locating his family.
The worried father also posted a Facebook message asking Sandeep’s employer, Union Bank, to assist in finding the family.
Babu said his son is the vice president of the bank.
They were reported missing April 8 after failing to show up for a visit with relatives in San Jose. They were last heard from while visiting the redwood forests of California’s far north coast
Before the family was reported missing, authorities were already searching for a vehicle that had been seen falling into the roiling Eel River on April 6
Authorities are also continuing to search for members of another family farther south along the Mendocino County coast.
An SUV made a deadly and possibly intentional plunge off a towering ocean bluff along State Route 1 last month.
Sarah and Jennifer Hart, both 39, and their six adopted children were believed to be in the car at the time.
Five bodies were found March 26 near Mendocino and a body was pulled out of the surf last weekend but its identity was not immediately identified.
Washington state authorities began investigating the Harts for possible child neglect a few days before the five bodies were recovered.
Pictured here is the Eel River in Northern California where the family reportedly went missing