Desperate search for missing mum and 8-month-old baby who 'vanished into thin air'

A desperate search has been launched to find a mum and her baby after they seemingly vanished into thin air.

Whisper Owen, 36, and her 8-month-old daughter Sandra McCarty were seen last on July 15, according to California's Fresno County Sheriff's Office. The pair were last seen departing Fresno to return to their home in Sacramento almost two weeks ago.

Owen's mum Vickie Torres tearfully told CNN: "I'm desperate to find my daughter and her baby. It's like she vanished into thin air." The pair left Fresno when they visited family around 5pm on July 15, the sheriff's office said. It comes after a couple planned a Morocco trip 'to sacrifice their five-year-old son in desert'.

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A traffic camera last captured their vehicle, a silver 2006 Chevrolet Trailblazer at about 8pm in Atwater, some 66 miles north of Fresno. But neither has been since since with officers working to determine what happened to them. The Fresno Police Department, which is leading the investigation, told CNN they believe Owen and Sandra are not in the Fresno area.

There is nothing that suggests foul play is involved in their disappearance, CNN was told. The family was not aware she was missing for three days due to a miscommunication. Owen had been in Fresno for a routine check up for the baby, her mother said. She visited her mum's house where she changed and fed the baby before the 8:30am appointment.

Afterward, she visited her brother's house. Richard Owen said he last saw his sister at about 2:45pm on July 15. When she did not return, her partner thought she stayed behind to help her mum clean a house she had bought, her brother said.

Her partner did not realise anything unusual had happened until the Saturday when the two would typically spend the weekend together. Owens suffers from high blood pressure and that it had been noticeably bad since she gave birth.

She was hospitalised several times during the pregnancy. "My fear is that maybe there was a medical emergency behind the wheel, and maybe she had veered off the road," her brother said.

"I can't help but to feel like something horrible has happened," he added. "The last time I talked I talked to my sister, she was talking about how good life was. She was just happy. There was no reason for her to want to disappear or to leave."

Torres has urged anyone with information about her daughter and granddaughter to contact the police. "Somebody knows something and they need to come forward," she said.

The Mirror has contacted the Fresno County Sheriff's Office for comment.