The body of missing Jolissa Fuentes has been found two months after she disappeared, leading to police crediting “divine intervention” after they had faced criticism for their investigation into the case.
The 22-year-old woman’s body was found inside a crashed car at the bottom of a 400ft cliff in a rural area of Fresno County north of Pine Flat Lake, Fresno County sheriff Margaret Mims said at a press conference on Tuesday.
Selma Police chief Rudy Alcaraz found the body at the crash site after he theorised that Fuentes was possibly tired and might have fallen asleep while driving when she crashed.
“As a woman of faith, I believe he was divinely channelled to that area,” sheriff Mims said.
Fuentes was last seen at about 4am on 7 August a night after she left a family gathering to retrieve some belongings from her home in Nebraska Ave, Selma. She was seen driving a 2011 Hyundai out of a gas station and did not return since.
“I just got lucky in finding the location where her car went off the road,” chief Alcaraz said. He said he saw tire tracks in the dry bush after he stopped his patrol car near a curve on the road.
The official cause of the crash is yet to be determined, but investigators believe the woman was involved in a single-vehicle accident.
Investigators used drones to track the likely path of tire tracks. After the car was located, rescue crew used 475ft of rope to rappel down the 250ft cliff and then further down a second cliff to recover the body, sheriff Mims said.
She said the area was steep and had dense vegetation that made law enforcement lose track of the rappelers.
The California Highway Patrol is investigating the crash.
Fuentes’ parents, Norma Nunez and Joey Fuentes, stood alongside law enforcement, fighting back tears at Tuesday’s press conference. They thanked investigators and public for their support and efforts in finding their daughter.
“I want to thank the community, not just the community, this whole nation. The cries and the pain of my wife and my sisters and my family was heard around this whole country,” Mr Fuentes said, fighting tears.
He thanked chief Alcaraz, saying: “He’s my hero”. The two hugged each other following his remarks.
Investigators had scoured the area west of Selma with the help of family members and used drones in their desperate search.
But the rescue crew’s movement was blocked due to dense foliage and heavily wooded mountains.
The search for the woman was being treated as a “criminal matter” after the Fuentes family had earlier repeatedly criticised police for being slow to act on her disappearance.
Her mother, Norma Nunez had told The Independent last month that it took the local police department nearly two weeks to take the search seriously, leaving the family to rely on loved ones and volunteers to canvass the town’s vast vineyards and orchards for signs of Jolissa.
Chief Alcaraz said no foul play is suspected.
Independent search and recovery dive team Adventures with Purpose had also joined the probe last week. The group was involved in the search for missing teenage girl Kiely Rodni in a Northern California reservoir earlier this month as well.
