A missing Indigenous woman from the Lake Elsinore area has been found dead following a search organized by her friends and family.
The family of Amy Porter, 43, said she had been missing since Sept. 15 following a major car accident in a desert area near Wildwood Canyon Road just off the 10 freeway in the Yucaipa area.
She was found dead on Sunday, according to a release from the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department.
Friends and family said they had found fresh blood on a mattress and clothes in her home at the time of her disappearance.
The California Highway Patrol issued a Feather Alert for Porter, who was a member of the Morongo Band of Mission Indians Tribe. The alert is a new type of statewide notification that is intended to specifically help find missing Indigenous people.
The search party found Porter’s body after about an hour in a ravine.
Family members told Onscene.Media that they were grateful for the alert system, but that investigators were unwilling to listen to their concerns or examine valuable evidence, and that other bureaucratic delays sacrificed valuable time.