Mom’s remains discovered in California desert after mysterious disappearance, cops say
A Walnut Creek mother’s skeletal remains were found months after she disappeared — but mystery still surrounds her cause of death and the events leading up to it, according to the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department.
On Jan. 31, deputies responded to a report of human remains in a desert field in Wonder Valley, located roughly 140 miles east of Los Angeles, the department said in a news release. The remains were retrieved and identified with the help of dental records as Erika Ashley Lloyd, 37, who was reported missing on Jun. 17 by her family.
Lloyd was last seen on Jun. 14 in Walnut Creek while traveling to Joshua Tree National Park, police said. In the months since her disappearance, search and rescue volunteers and Joshua Tree park rangers conducted searches for Lloyd.
The investigation is ongoing and the manner and cause of death haven’t been determined, according to police.
Erika Lloyd’s brother Colin Lloyd wrote on Facebook that his sister’s remains were found by hikers.
“There is no easy way for me to tell you all this and there’s no easy way for any of us to receive it,” he wrote on Thursday. “My wish is that we can all lean in a little closer, hold each other up, and remind each other more often that we’re here for one another with open arms and endless love; it’s what she would have wanted; it’s the spirit of who she was.”
Ruth Lloyd, mother of the 37-year-old, told KRON4 in August that she spoke to her daughter on June 14, 2020, the day she disappeared.
“She sounded like she was driving. She was speaking very rapidly. It was just hard to make out exactly what she was saying,” Ruth said.
Erika Lloyd’s 2006 Honda Accord was found days later abandoned 19 miles from Joshua Tree Village, according to KRON4.
California Highway Patrol Officer Casey Simmons said in early August that there was no evidence the woman was involved in a traffic accident, despite “damage to the front end (of her car) along with the windshield and back window.”
”There were items still in the vehicle,” Simmons said. “It didn’t look like any items were taken out of the vehicle.”
In his post announcing his sister’s death, Colin Lloyd also thanked everyone who helped in the search..
“We would like to thank the men and women of the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department, to include their families, all the men and women who performed searches in the desert, Doug Billing’s and his friends who assisted in the search, the residents of 29 Palms and Wonder Valley,” the post read. “You have all been nothing short of a miracle for us.”
