Body of missing California woman found in desert a month after she called 911

The nude body of a 27-year-old woman who called 911 for help in late February but went missing before authorities could find her was discovered outside a small town near the Arizona-California border last week.

In a recording of the 911 call, made just a day before she was reported missing, the victim, Amanda Nenigar, sounded confused and desperate as she attempted to describe the remote mountainous and desert terrain where she’d gotten her vehicle stuck off the highway.

“I think I may have fell asleep at the wheel,” the 27-year-old is heard telling a 911 dispatcher. “I got tired. I didn’t have my glasses and went to pull over but hit a pole.”

In the hour-long 911 call, which was routed to dispatchers in California, Nenigar’s family told KTLA that Amanda even provided the correct GPS coordinates from her phone and still did not receive the help she desperately needed.

“She did not have to die like this,” Marissa Nenigar, the victim’s sister, told KTLA’s Rachel Menitoff. “If they would have listened to her 911 call and wrote down the coordinates, again, she would still be here with us. She would still be alive. Her daughters wouldn’t be without a mother right now.”

The California native was last seen at a hotel in Blythe on Feb. 27 until last week when her body was found near Cibola, Arizona, just 25 miles away.

La Paz County Sheriff William Ponce told KTLA that Amanda was discovered about a mile and a half from her vehicle and that her body had likely been there for weeks.

“We believe she went under the tree to try to get some shelter from the elements. As you may know, it gets hot in the Arizona desert,” the sheriff said. “Her clothes were strewn along the path that we believe she took prior to making it to that tree where she ended up passing.”

The victim’s sister said it’s unclear exactly where Amanda was headed, but that they have family in La Paz County.

Family members also believe her death was a failure on the part of the California Highway Patrol, who they say should have acted with more urgency to locate and rescue her.

“I haven’t been able to eat because she went all these days, who knows how long without eating or drinking anything,” Marissa said. “It’s taken a big toll on my life, my mom’s life, our family’s life, and I don’t want this to happen to anyone else.”

KTLA has reached out to officials at the California Highway Patrol about the 911 call and is waiting to hear back.

Sheriff William Ponce added that he does not believe any foul play was involved, but that the investigation is ongoing, with an autopsy pending to determine the young mother’s exact cause of death.

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