Hope turned to heartbreak for the family of Amy Porter, a 43-year-old Indigenous woman of the Morongo Band of Mission Indians, after her body was discovered in a desert area near I-10 and Wildwood Canyon Road in Yucaipa. As reported by KTLA Porter had been missing since September 14 and was found dead by her family on September 22, initiating a complex, tragic story that is now playing out across Southern California law enforcement agencies.
As the family came across Porter's body, they had been conducting their search, in a desert area near I-10 and Wildwood Canyon Road, where she might have been fleeing from her boyfriend, according to the family's suspicion. Having been missing from Riverside County, Shannon Quesada, Porter’s cousin, revealed the distressing conditions of the discovery to KTLA, stating, "They said it was bad and I didn’t need to see it."
A Feather Alert, the term designated for missing indigenous persons, was issued by the California Highway Patrol upon the family's repeated insistence, as frustrations grew over a perceived lack of urgency from law enforcement. "They don’t care, that’s how it seems," Angelica Lyons, another one of Porter's cousins, told KTLA.
Complicating matters, the woman was last seen with a man reported to have a history of domestic violence, according to the family's accounts. Information regarding this individual and Porter's last known moments was provided, including the unsettling detail that her car was towed from Yucaipa. In the direction that the investigation had not addressed, Porter’s boyfriend was taken into custody on a parole violation by Pomona police, as per the CBS News Los Angeles article.
Details remain scarce as the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Coroner Division identifies Porter, awaiting autopsy results for the official manner of death. A death investigation is underway, and law enforcement officials urge anyone with information to come forward. The Nixle advisory from the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department provided a number for Detective Daniel Berumen of the Specialized Investigations Division for those with information.
