LA PAZ COUNTY, Ariz. – The nude body of a California woman who called 911 for help in late February before she went missing was found last week in La Paz County, Arizona, according to authorities.
Amanda Nenigar, 27, sounded confused and desperate in a 911 call as she tried to describe the remote mountainous and desert terrain where she’d gotten her vehicle stuck off the highway. The call was made Feb. 27, the day before her family officially reported her missing, KTLA reported.
“I think I may have fell asleep at the wheel,” the woman told a 911 dispatcher. “I got tired. I didn’t have my glasses and went to pull over but hit a pole.”
The Nenigar family has a lot of unanswered questions following the hour-long 911 call followed by her disappearance.
“She did not have to die like this,” Marissa Nenigar, the victim’s sister, told the news outlet. “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 911 call in question was routed to dispatchers in California, although Nenigar was actually in Arizona, which likely led to further confusion. The CHP has not yet commented on the case.
Nenigar was last seen at a hotel in Blythe, California on Feb. 27, the same day she made the 911 call. Blythe is a medium-sized city adjacent to the Colorado River and Arizona border.
On March 7, deputies located her car 25 miles away near the sparsely populated census-designated location of Cibola in La Paz County, Arizona, reported Law&Crime.
“The rear end of the vehicle was on a large boulder,” La Paz County Sheriff William Ponce told KTVK. “When you have a vehicle that’s abandoned and you don’t have kind of inkling where the person has gone or anything, it all seems very odd to us and it’s very concerning.”
More than three weeks passed before the woman’s body was finally discovered by search and rescue personnel. Her unclothed body was found March 29 beneath a tree roughly 1.5 miles away from where her car had been recovered.
Nenigar’s body was in an advanced state of decomposition and had presumably been dead for quite some time when her remains were located, the sheriff said. She was identified by a rose tattoo on her right hand.
“Late Friday evening Amanda Nenigar was located deceased,” the La Paz County Sheriff’s Office said in a post on Facebook. “The family has been notified and issued a statement requesting privacy and thanked the public for their assistance in trying to locate Amanda.”
Investigators found Nenigar’s clothing nearby and believe she may have been trying to lower her body temperature before she eventually died of exposure.
“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.”
Amanda Nenigar appears in two photos. (Blythe Police Department)
The victim’s sister said it’s unclear exactly where the native Californian was headed, but the family has relatives in La Paz County, according to KTLA.
Though an investigation remains ongoing, Sheriff Ponce said he does not believe any foul play was involved.
“This is still an active investigation and a pending autopsy will determine the cause of death,” the La Paz County Sheriff’s Office said on social media. “Updates will be released to the public through proper news channels and this page when deemed appropriate.”
