MODESTO, California- A 39-year-old woman Erika Lopez has been found dead inside a car on Maze Boulevard after going missing on Friday. Here’s everything that you must know about the tragic incident and what was the cause of Erika Lopez’s death.
Lopez was found at the 1200 block of Maze Boulevard near Carpenter Road in Modesto on Saturday as per the police department’s statement. Officers had been helping the Ceres Police Department search for Lopez upon her family’s complaint from Friday night.
Erika Lopez, 39, went missing on Friday, Sept. 23
Erika Lopez of Ceres went missing on Friday, September 23, 2022, in the evening. The 39-year-old mother called her daughter Yaresli Lopez at around 7:46 PM and told her that she’d arrive in about 30 minutes. However, she never returned home as revealed by Yaresli in her Instagram post.
“Two hours passed and my mother never came home,” she wrote. “Me and my dad went all throughout I-5 looking for her but there was no sign,” she added.
Yaresli has also identified a man on social media who was threatening her mother. She believes he’s the main reason for her mother’s sudden disappearance.
Erika Lopez Found Dead in a Car inside Church Parking Lot
Modesto police responded to a report of a possibly deceased woman in a car on the 1200 block of Maze Boulevard on Saturday, September 24, 2022, at around 3 PM. Upon reaching there, the police found a black Honda sedan parked in the St. Stanislaus Catholic Church.
Police recovered the dead body of a woman from inside the car and she was identified as Erika Lopez, a woman who went missing a day ago. Lopez’s family has identified the body as the police taped off the area for further investigation.
Yaresli Lopez told The Bee by text, “It is my mother.”
Erika Lopez wasn’t Murdered as per the Modesto Police Department
Modesto police have classified the case as a “death investigation at this point” and say it’s “not a homicide.” Erika Lopez’s body has been sent for autopsy and the police are waiting for the reports.
“It is classified as a death investigation at this point and will stay as such unless an autopsy says otherwise,” said Sergeant Kalani Souza in a statement on Sunday.
“There is currently no one wanted or being sought by Detectives as part of this investigation,” stated the news release from Modesto police.
Who was Erika Lopez?
Erika Lopez was a 39-year-old woman from Ceres, California. She was a mother of a young girl and a wife. She was a Dental Surgery Administrator at the Bay Area Dental Surgery Center.
Lopez went missing on Friday evening and never returned home. Her dead body was found in the parking lot of a Modesto Church the next day.
A GoFundMe page has been set up for Eria to help with the funeral and other expenses. It’s titled “In The Loving Memory of Erika Lopez,” and has been set up by Yeileen Espinoza, who identifies as a family member.
The campaign describes Erika as an amazing kind and caring human being. She was someone’s daughter, sister, mother, cousin, friend, and more.
Erika Lopez’s cause of death is currently unknown. Our heart goes out to his family. We’ll keep you updated with further developments on the case once autopsy reports are out.