GUSTINE — The Merced County Coroner’s Office has confirmed that the body recovered from the Delta‑Mendota Canal on Feb. 8 is that of 21‑year‑old Lupita Lizbeth Zuniga‑Ontiveros, the Stockton woman who went missing after an off‑road vehicle plunged into the water near Gustine late last month.

Zuniga‑Ontiveros had been unaccounted for since the early morning hours of Jan. 28, when a RZR carrying four people crashed into the canal south of State Route 140. Three occupants — the driver and two female passengers — escaped the sinking vehicle and made it to the bank. Zuniga‑Ontiveros, the fourth passenger and mother of an 18‑month‑old daughter, was swept away in the current.

The California Highway Patrol said the driver, Elixandro Naranjo Miranda, 21, had been operating the RZR along the canal bank when he drove into the water at an estimated 10 mph, citing darkness and heavy dust. According to CHP, the two surviving passengers and an independent witness reported that Miranda fled the scene after reaching the bank. He was later arrested at his residence and booked into the Merced County Jail on suspicion of DUI and hit‑and‑run.

Over the 11 days that followed, the Merced County Sheriff’s Office conducted extensive search efforts by air, land and water, assisted at times by family members and friends of Zuniga‑Ontiveros. Divers faced murky water, strong currents and limited visibility as they searched the canal.

On Feb. 8, deputies received a report of a body spotted in the water near Whitworth and Cottonwood roads, roughly seven miles downstream from the crash site. Members of the Sheriff’s Water Recovery and Rescue Team recovered the remains and transported them to the coroner’s office.

The coroner’s office announced Feb. 10 that the decedent has been positively identified as Zuniga‑Ontiveros.

“Our thoughts are with Lupita’s family and loved ones during this tragic time,” the Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.