Photo: Fresno County Sheriff's Office
Human remains believed to be Jolissa Fuentes, a California woman who was reported missing two months prior, were found Tuesday (October 11) at the site of a wrecked car believed to have driven off a cliff.
“We wish that we had better news,” Selma, California, Police Chief Rudy Alcaraz said at a news conference via NBC News, adding, “I wish that we could have brought Ms. Fuentes home.”
Searchers located the wreckage of Fuentes' car and a body, as well as a woman's possessions, in a ravine near Pine Flat Lake in the Sierra Nevada foothills of eastern Fresno County.
Tire tracks that ran through vegetation and off of a cliff led the rescue team to the site where responders needed to rappel down to reach the destruction, the Fresno County Sheriff's Office confirmed via NBC News.
The vehicle was involved in a single-car accident and no foul play is suspected, according to Alcaraz.
The remains found still need to be confirmed by the coroner's office, however, Fresno County Sheriff Margaret Mims said, "There's little doubt that we have found her" in relation to the search for Fuentes on Tuesday.
Rescue crews had previously searched the area of Pine Flat Lake, but Alcaraz noted that there is "a vast amount of geography" with heavy foliage and cliffs that prevented the remains from being discovered earlier.
Fuentes, 22, is said to have frequented the area of Pine Flat Lake prior to her disappearance and may have just gone for a drive prior to the crash taking place, Alcaraz said.
The California Highway Patrol is continuing to investigate the incident.