- Christina Murphy was reported missing on July 22. On July 23 Kern County Sheriff's Office located part of her car near the Kern River and identified a submerged vehicle nearby.
- Kern County Sheriff's Office said the vehicle could not be recovered due to unsafe conditions and high water flow. On Saturday Sept 14, the flow in the Kern river was roughly 680 CFS when the recovery of the vehicle was made.
- KCSO states the missing person case of Christina Murphy is an ongoing and active investigation.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
On Saturday the car of missing person Christina Murphy was pulled out of the Kern river near Lake Isabella.
“KCSO became aware of the submerged vehicle on July 23rd,” said Lori Meza, Public Information Officer for the Kern County Sheriff’s Office (KCSO), who was at the scene of the recovery.
According to KCSO, water levels have been too high to safely retrieve the vehicle. On Saturday September 14, search and rescue teams successfully pulled the vehicle out of the water and determined the vehicle did belong to Christina Murphy, but that no occupants were located.
“We have seen a decrease in water levels from July 23rd to now,” Meza said, “The water level has dropped about 20 feet since then to today.”
On September 10, Search and Rescue Teams were near the scene but determined the conditions to be unsafe for a recovery. Meza said a dive team had inspected the vehicle previously.
“On July 27 our search and rescue teams did put a diver in the water with a camera and at that time could not determine if that vehicle was cleared of any occupants or not. So we accessed the vehicle when the CFS was much higher than on Tuesday. If it were that easy our trained Search and Rescue members would have recovered the vehicle at that time.”
According to data from the Army Corps of Engineers, which runs the Lake Isabella Dam and controls the outflow of water to the Lower Kern River, on Tuesday September 10 the average outflow to the river was roughly 860 cubic feet-per-second (CFS). On the day they recovered the vehicle, the flow in the river was around 680 CFS.
“They are volunteers,” Meza said.
Meza explains who is on the search and rescue teams.
“They’re usually people from the communities. We have a Kern Valley Search and Rescue Team that is made up of people that live up in Kern Valley. So you're are talking about people who also know the missing person that everyone is speculating about so there is a level of community concern from our search and rescue team as well. They have a deep concern for safely recovering this vehicle as well. We just want to really really emphasize the safe recovery part.”
When asked if a viral video by private dive team Adventures with Purpose influenced the decision to remove the vehicle on Saturday, Meza responded -
“The only reason we are out here today is because we have seen a natural reduction in CFS and water flow.”
Lori Meza said that the vehicle is part of an active and ongoing investigation regarding missing person Christina Murphy.
Stay in Touch with Us Anytime, Anywhere:
