Body of missing California boy found 6 miles from where the rest of his family died

CNN/Stylemagazine.com Newswire | 4/17/2018, 4:19 p.m.
The body of a 12-year-old boy was found in a California river, 6 miles away from where the rest of …
Sandeep and Soumya Thottapilly are seen here with their children Siddhant, 12, and Saachi, 9.

By Eric Levenson and Stella Chan, CNN

(CNN) -- The body of a 12-year-old boy was found in a California river, 6 miles away from where the rest of his family was found dead.

Siddhant Thottapilly was the last to be found after the family of four went missing earlier this month. Sandeep Thottapilly, 41, and Saachi Thottapilly, 9, were found dead inside a vehicle encased in sediment in the Eel River, the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office said. Separately, an adult female body recovered on Friday from another area of the river was identified as Soumya Thottapilly, 38.

On Sunday, searchers discovered a vehicle in the river about a half-mile downstream of the reported crash site, near Leggett, the sheriff's office said. A tow truck then removed the vehicle, which was encased in a large amount of sediment.

The Thottapilly family, from Santa Clarita, disappeared in early April while driving in a Honda Pilot through the Redwood Coast Highway on vacation, officials said. Their disappearance coincided with reports that a vehicle had sunk into the Eel River in Northern California.

The site of the crash is about 30 miles north of where another family's SUV plunged off of a cliff and crashed on the rocky Pacific Ocean shore. In that case, Jennifer and Sarah Hart and three of their six children were found dead at the scene and three other children remain missing. A body was found in the ocean at the scene, but it has not been identified.

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