Whisper Owen, 36, is a mom of four who vanished with her eight-month-old baby two weeks ago, but her mother told Daily Mail that police are doing little to search for them.
www.dailymail.co.uk
Grandmother of missing 8-month-old and mother blasts police for dismissing case because of family's criminal history
The desperate mother of a missing
California woman
who vanished with her eight-month-old baby more than two weeks ago has accused cops of 'profiling my family' and refusing to put much effort into the search.
Whisper Owen, 36, was last seen with
her infant daughter Sandra on July 15 when she was caught on camera in Atwater, California, while making the three-hour drive home to Sacramento after seeing family in Fresno.
The blonde mom-of-four was seen making a
pitstop at a smoke shop in the rural city at around 8pm but never made it home.
Now, in an exclusive interview with the Daily Mail, Whisper's distraught mother Vickie Torres, 58, has said the official search has been pinged between several different police and sheriff's departments – with none too keen to pick up the slack.
Speaking from her home in Fresno, Torres noted that Whisper – along with the rest of the family – has criminal priors and said, as a result, she thinks the police aren't taking the disappearance seriously.
She said: 'I feel like the cops are profiling my family. We all have records, so they think we are all ex-cons and druggies.
'But what about Sandra? She is a baby and the definition of innocence but they're being so casual about it.'
Torres, who admitted a prior alcohol addiction and has been sober for four years, added: 'I just don't understand how they can take it so lightly like this.
'It's got me consumed and I'm trying not to be bitter or hateful. I'm really trying. It's hard, but I'm not going to get anywhere being angry at these people or talking to them with a bad demeanor. It's not going to help.
'So, I'm basically kissing butt, trying to get some help. It's not easy.'
According to Torres, the Fresno Sheriff's Department was the first to pick up the case after she reported Whisper missing to them on July 19.
They were the first to dig into the disappearance before handing it over to counterparts in Sacramento where Whisper lives.
But, said a furious Torres, the Sacramento Sheriff's Department worked on the case for a day before deciding that Whisper had gone on the lam due to an outstanding warrant issued six months ago.
That theory cut no ice with the 58-year-old who told the Daily Mail that Whisper was aware of the warrant – which arose over a neglect conviction after one of her children got Covid-19 in 2021 – and had tried to hand herself in to the Sacramento County Jail, only to be sent home due to high blood pressure.
She told the Daily Mail: 'Because the active warrant is there, they're saying she doesn't want to be found. She's running.
'That's not the case. She's not going to run from her other children, from her family. She lives for her children. She never would have left her children. She didn't run.'
Photos exclusively obtained by the Daily Mail show the mom-of-four beaming with baby Sandra, as well as her three older children J, 16, F, nine and J, three, and her boyfriend Robert McCarty.
McCarty, 52, has been helping to search for his girlfriend and daughter, as has Whisper's brother Richard and his wife – all of whom have combed the country back roads between Fresno and Sacramento.
The police response is now being handled by the Fresno Police Department Missing Persons Unit, with Lieutenant Larry Bowlan telling the Daily Mail that they do not believe Whisper or Sandra are still in the Fresno area.
He added: 'There is nothing in the current missing persons investigation which leads us to believe any foul play is involved with Whisper and her child not being located yet.'
Bowlan told the Daily Mail that investigators had been scouring family shelters in Sacramento County and further north in Redding in case the mom-of-four had asked for help with temporary housing.
He also said photos of the mom and baby had been shared on social media accounts belonging to police departments across central and northern California.
But Torres slammed the response as half-hearted and said her daughter has no reason to go to a homeless shelter.
'The police department got a tip that said somebody had seen her in Redding at a food bank,' said Torres.
'My daughter would never go to a food bank, and right now she's got a food stamp card with $600 on it. She wouldn't need to do that anyway.'
On the day she disappeared, Whisper had left her home in Sacramento at 4am to make a doctor's appointment in Fresno at 8.30am.
Afterwards, she spent time with her brother Richard before dropping in on Torres with baby Sandra in tow.
Recently returned from a vacation in Wyoming with boyfriend Richard and her four children, Torres said she had been in an upbeat mood.
'She seemed completely well, she was wonderful,' Torres told the Daily Mail. 'She was telling me how their vacation went and said it was wonderful.
'There was nothing to suggest anything was wrong.'
According to Torres, Whisper left at around 5pm and was spotted on security store footage at a grocery store two blocks away an hour later where she purchased baby formula.
Next, came the sighting in Atwater, 60 miles north of Fresno, around 8pm. But since then, there has been no sign of Whisper, Sandra or her 2006 silver Chevrolet Trailblazer SUV.
Lieutenant Bowlan said: 'Our Missing Persons Detectives are doing a thorough investigation in this case and are following up on all possible leads to locate Whisper and her child.
'Unfortunately, no new developments have occurred with the case, through our investigative efforts in the last few days on locations to check for them.'
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