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California woman Samantha Tomlinson was last spotted running some errands around town.
Tomlinson told her roommate on Dec. 3, 2021, that she was heading over to the Fresno Costco on 7100 North Abby St. to make a return. Before that, a Fresno police spokesperson said in December, she met up with a person buying a weight set on the vending platform OfferUp. That sale, recorded on CCTV, went off without a hitch.
After six months with no leads, remains identified as Tomlinson’s were found Friday in the Sierra National Forest, according to the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office.
The day after Tomlinson’s Costco trip, her roommate filed a missing persons report — concerned that she hadn’t returned home after her errand run. Tomlinson’s mother, Christine, was also worried that she had not returned home to care for her German shepherd, Atlas, according to an interview with the longtime newsmagazine “Dateline.”
It is unclear what happened after her Costco visit; security footage showed Tomlinson entering and exiting the store’s parking lot inside her silver 2002 Honda Civic. Her credit cards and phone were unused in the days after she was reported missing.
On May 2, the sheriff’s office received a tip that the vehicle had been spotted east of Shaver Lake inside the Sierra National Forest, apparently abandoned. Her remains were found about a half-mile from where the car was parked.
Sierra National Forest was one of Tomlinson’s go-to hiking spots, and given her love of the outdoors, U.S. Forest Service rangers and other officials were told to be on the lookout there and at Sequoia National Park.
“She loves the outdoors and she loves animals,” her father, Robert, told KMPH in December. “That’s where we think she might be. But indications are that maybe she’s not.”
Her vehicle was not found sooner, a spokesperson for the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office said in a Facebook post, because it was previously likely covered in snow.
No foul play is suspected in Tomlinson’s death.
SFGATE managing editor Katie Dowd contributed to this report.
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