MERCED COUNTY, Calif. (KFSN) — The body that was found in a canal in Merced County on Sunday has been identified as 21-year-old Lupita Ontiveros.
The discovery was made about seven miles from the site where she went missing on January 28 after she and three others crashed into the canal while riding a RZR off-road vehicle.
Dive teams had been used in efforts to find the body of the mother who leaves behind an 18-month-old daughter.
The California Highway Patrol says the search was further complicated after the driver left the scene of the dune buggy crash.
He was later located and arrested.
No other information surrounding Ontiveros’s death has been released.
