Woman's Body Found Near Area Where SoCal Family Disappeared

MENDOCINO COUNTY, CA — Officials in Mendocino County have recovered the body of a woman from a river near the area where a Los Angeles County family went missing last week, the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office said Friday.

The woman's body was found around 10:45 a.m. Friday. Officials initially said at a press conference Friday they had recovered the body of a child from the river but later said the body was that of an adult female. Officials confirmed that the Thottapilly family's car was seen going into the river last week and the body found Friday was seven miles north of the crash site.

"The body was found on exposed terrain which appeared to have covered by the Eel River within the last few days as a result of a recent weather storm which brought heavy rain to the area," the sheriff's office said in a news release.

On Thursday, the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office said the Santa Clarita family's car was seen going into the river on April 6. The California Highway Patrol found a possible car part and earlier this week, the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office found items in the river that were confirmed to belong to the family.

The family members, identified as Sandeep Thottapilly, 41, Soumya Thottapilly, 38, Siddhant Thottapilly, 12, and Saachi Thottapilly, 9, were traveling through the Redwood Coast Highway on vacation, going from Oregon to Santa Clarita. The family was supposed to reach San Jose on April 6 but never reached. They were last heard from on April 5 and were reported missing to the San Jose Police Department on April 8.

Authorities say there is no evidence of foul play.

Patch will update this breaking news story.

Photo via Mendocino County Sheriff's Office