Missing California Mother Update: Police Find Heather Gumina’s Empty Car As Search Continues

Police in El Dorado County, California, announced Sunday that they had found a vehicle belonging to Heather Gumina, 33, a mother of three who has been missing since July 15.

The El Dorado Sheriff’s Department would not say where exactly they found the car — a 2005 Infiniti G35 with pink accents — except that it was within the county and is now being held as forensic evidence, according to a press statement.

The search for Gumina, also known as Heather Gumina Waters, remains ongoing. According to local news reports, she was last known to be in the Pleasant Valley area, which is roughly 55 miles east of Sacramento.

Authorities do not know when precisely she was last seen, making it difficult to mount a search. The vehicle had also disappeared at the same time as Gumina and she was believed to be driving it.

“Every minute of the day I feel like dying inside,” Gumina’s mother Joanna Russell said at a vigil. “I do, I feel like dying because I didn’t protect her. I didn’t protect her.”

Prior to her disappearance, Gumina had been released from the hospital after receiving treatment for a broken collarbone. According to Russell, Gumina's children — aged 14, 10 and four — have not been contacted by their mother since her disappearance.

“We are working really hard to find her. Everybody is joined together in prayer. Bring her home,” said friend Kathy Schneider at the vigil.

The El Dorado County Sheriff’s Department requests that anyone with information pertaining to the case call 530-621-6600.