Bodies of Galt woman, child believed found in van in river

SACRAMENTO - Two bodies pulled from the Sacramento River on Thursday were believed to be those of a Galt woman and one of her two children.

Divers and a police boat were searching the river south of Clarksburg for the body of a second child.

The three have been missing since Nov. 2.

A minivan registered to Annie Marie Hernandez, 34, was found by a diver looking for dumped stolen vehicles, said Yolo County Sheriff's Department spokesman Larry Cecchettini.

An adult woman's body was found as the van was being towed from the water, and a child's body was found in the cargo area under some debris, Cecchettini said, adding that positive identification will take some time.

Hernandez disappeared with her children, Korra Meyers, 5, and Jesika Hernandez, 2, after they were last seen the evening of Nov. 2 at a fast-food restaurant in Sacramento, about 10 miles north of Clarksburg.

Cecchettini said South River Road, where the van was found about three miles south of Clarksburg, is curvy and drops off steeply to the river on one side and a farm field on the other.

''It's essentially a levee road - no shoulder,'' he said.

There was no obvious cause for why the van went into the river, he said, but the van will be taken to the sheriff's department's headquarters for an examination by CHP accident investigators.

The van was in the water at least since February and there is no reason to believe it wasn't there since November, he said.

Comments

Use the comment form below to begin a discussion about this content.

Sign in to comment