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The naked body of a California woman has been found in the Arizona desert — more than a month after she went missing when she drove into a ditch and made a 911 call that went to a dispatcher in the wrong state.
Amanda Nenigar, 26, was last seen alive Feb. 28 in Blythe, Calif., and found dead about 7:30 p.m. Friday just outside Cibola, AZ Family reported.
Her body was found about a mile and a half from where her car had been discovered more than three weeks earlier.
“The family has been notified and issued a statement requesting privacy and thanked the public for their assistance in trying to locate Amanda,” the La Paz County Sheriff’s Office announced.
A search-and-rescue expert reportedly spotted Nenigar’s nude body under a tree about a mile and a half from where her vehicle was abandoned along the California-Arizona border.
Investigators believe Nenigar may have been trying to cool off by removing her clothes and finding shade under the tree before she possibly died of exposure, AZ Family said.
“We were hopeful that we could find her alive and that she would be OK. It’s very disheartening when it comes to something like this, and it’s saddening for the family,” Sheriff William Ponce told the news outlet.
He said the woman, whose clothes were found nearby, was identified by a rose tattoo on her right hand.
An autopsy is being conducted to determine the official cause of death.
Nenigar had called 911 for help after going into a ditch — but her call went to a dispatcher in California, not Arizona, in a mix-up that apparently delayed authorities’ response.
“What are you surrounded with? Do you see just fields? Is that all you see?” the dispatcher asks in the 911 call released Thursday, the outlet reported.
Nenigar tells the California Highway Patrol operator, “I’m like kind of in a valley. Yeah, there’s just a lot of mountains.
“What are you surrounded with? Do you see just fields? Is that all you see?” the dispatcher asks in the 911 call released Thursday, the outlet reported.
“But I climbed to like a high mountain, and I’m wearing pink,” she adds.
The dispatcher then asks, “OK, so you’re on Highway 78, you think? And what would be the nearest cross streets?”
Nenigar answers, “Um, I’m not sure. I see a field.”
The operator replies, “I’m trying to get a location on you, but I’m not getting one.”
On March 7, about nine days after Nenigar is believed to have gotten stranded, her car was found abandoned in a remote desert area near Cibola.
“The rear end of the vehicle was on a large boulder,” Ponce told AZ Family. “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.”
He said Nenigar apparently had been dead for quite some time when she was finally found.