Officials from San Bernardino County in California say that they have recovered the body of a woman from the Big Bear lake. While the body has not been positively identified yet, authorities suspect it could be of a missing woman from the area. In fact, the body was spotted by a helicopter search team looking for the woman as it flew over the Big Bear lake. According to OC Register , the body of the woman was located at around 10 a.m. local time.
According to a report by KTVU , the helicopter search party were looking for 35-year-old Lisa Ann Cimbaluk, who has been missing since December 29, 2014. As the helicopter flew over the South Shore area of the Big Bear lake, they spotted the body in the waters. Authorities have not yet confirmed the identity of the person whose body was found in the waters.
Over the course of the past week, officials from the San Bernardino County had led a huge search for Lisa Ann, who was last seen by her family members on December 29. On Sunday, officials managed to recover Cimbaluk’s Toyota RAV 4 SUV from a parking lot at the Woodlands trailhead in Fawnskin, north of Big Bear Lake, completely covered in snow. There was no sign of Lisa inside the car, though. Officials, however, had intensified search, and rescue efforts in the area following the discovery of her car.
Prior to the helicopter search team recovering the body, a team of 60 San Bernardino County sheriff’s deputies and search-and-rescue volunteers from five neighboring counties spent nearly eight hours looking for Lisa in a thickly forested, rocky swathe of land located near Bertha Ridge not far from the Big Bear Lake. The team included a search dog, a helicopter, and several four-wheel-drive vehicles. They were, however, not able to find anything.
At the time of filing this article, officials from the San Bernardino County are working to ascertain the identity of the body. They are also trying to determine the actual cause of death.
[Images Via OC Register / KTVU ]