Amanda Nenigar missing California woman found dead in Arizona desert after bungled police investigation, weeks after disappearing according to her sister, Marissa.
A California woman who was reported missing earlier this year was found deceased in the Arizona desert, some miles away from where her car had been previously located.
Amanda Nenigar, 27, was last seen alive on Feb. 28 in Blythe, California. It wasn’t until two weeks later that the missing woman’s car was found in a remote area of La Paz County in Arizona on March 12th.
It would be a further two and half weeks before Nenigar’s body being eventually found on March 29 in the desert, 1.5 miles away from the missing woman’s car according to a release from the Blythe Police Department.
Circumstances leading up to death remained unknown
‘The family has been notified and issued a statement requesting privacy and thanked the public for their assistance in trying to locate Amanda. We ask that you please respect the family during this time and avoid spreading rumors and assumptions,’ the sheriff’s office said.
Of disconcert the missing woman’s body was found naked under a tree in Cibola, La Paz County, close to the California, Arizona state border.
‘We were hopeful that we could find her alive and that she would be okay. It’s very disheartening when it comes to something like this, and it’s saddening for the family,’ said La Paz County Sheriff William Ponce. The official said Amanda was identified by a rose tattoo on her right hand, AZ Family reported.
The circumstances leading up to Nenigar’s death and how she died weren’t detailed by the authorities pending the results of an autopsy, FOX10 reported.
The discovery of the missing woman’s body follows a previous release of a 911 call revealing Nenigar’s confusion as she tried to explain her whereabouts to a 911 operator, hours before she vanished.
Bungled police investigation?
Nenigar’s family previously criticized the search by officials, and claim provided near-exact coordinates to where her car was found as her sister Marissa told KKTV last week: ‘They could have found her.’
Added Marissa: ‘I don’t know why they didn’t transfer her to dispatch in Arizona. She gave them her exact location and someone could have went and got her. They could have found her.’
Explained the family in weeks prior, ‘We just want to know that she’s OK. We want her to come home.’
The sister criticized authorities for what she described as a bungled investigation, with the La Paz County Sheriff’s Office only becoming aware of the 911 call once they got involved.
Once Arizona deputies joined the search and listened to the call, they were able to follow her coordinates to just over a mile from where the car was found.
To date, it remained unclear if foul play had been a part in the woman’s death.
