Authorities Identify Three Bodies Belonging to Missing California Family

The authorities in Northern California have recovered and identified the bodies of three of four members of a California family who disappeared while on a road trip this month.

Searchers on the Eel River in Leggett, California, on Sunday recovered the submerged bodies of Sandeep Thottapilly, 41, and his daughter, Saachi, 9, the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement Monday. A body recovered last week was identified as Thottapilly’s wife, Soumya, 38. Their son, Siddhant, 12, remained missing.

The family was believed to be vacationing when they were reported missing last week. Sandeep Thottapilly and his daughter were found inside a vehicle in about 4 to 6 feet of water.

“Visibility was extremely poor and divers noted the vehicle was encased in a large amount of sediment from the river current,” Capt. Gregory L. Van Patten, field services commander of the Sheriff’s Office, said in the statement.

On Sunday, about 70 people fanned out along the river, which is about 180 miles north of San Francisco. Just before noon, searchers aboard a boat smelled gas coming from the water below, according to the statement. They soon found the vehicle, and divers reported feeling what they believed to be a person inside.

At about 6:30 p.m., the vehicle was partly lifted from the water, allowing a more thorough inspection and, eventually, the removal of Thottapilly and his daughter from inside.

Officials have not yet said how the three Thottapilly family members died, though this month they discovered a broken car part in the area belonging to a maroon Honda Pilot, the same color and make of the vehicle the family had reportedly been traveling in, according to the Sheriff’s Office.

It is the second time in a month that the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office has dispatched search and rescue teams to find a lost family. In both cases, stormy weather and choppy waters complicated recovery efforts.

In the earlier crash, a couple, Jennifer and Sarah Hart, and at least three of their six adopted children were killed after their sport utility vehicle plunged from a coastal cliff.

The authorities said Friday that the driver, Jennifer Hart, was drunk at the time of the crash. The three remaining adopted children are still unaccounted for.