Tracking device helps mom lead deputies to dead son in submerged car, California cops say
A man who had been missing for nearly a month has been found dead inside his car submerged in a river, California deputies say.
Family first reported Isaiah Lowe, 21, missing Jan. 24, the San Diego County Sheriff’s Office said in a Feb. 18 news release.
He was last seen on home surveillance video driving away in his black Chevrolet Camaro with red stripes on Jan. 22, deputies say.
“Mommy loves you and I just want to know you are ok,” his mother wrote in a Jan. 25 Facebook post asking for help finding her son.
After entering his case into a missing person database, deputies said they handed out missing persons flyers to multiple agencies across Southern California and continued to search for Lowe.
“I just want to hear your voice,” Lowe’s mother wrote in a Feb. 1 Facebook post.
About two weeks later, Lowe’s mother contacted deputies to say she had information from a GPS tracking device that was inside his car, the sheriff’s office said.
It led her to State Route 76 near Bonsall, where “the GPS device stopped tracking Lowe’s car,” deputies said
There, she found a damaged fence along the highway, deputies said. On the shoulder of the highway was debris that appeared to be from Lowe’s car, deputies said.
Multiple agencies searched the area Monday, Feb. 17, deputies said.
Officials soon found the car completely submerged in the San Luis Rey River just south of the highway, deputies said.
After nightfall stalled recovery efforts, deputies said they resumed their efforts the next day and pulled the car from the river.
Inside, they found a man’s body that matched Lowe’s description, deputies said.
“I do not know what to say,” Lowe’s mother wrote in a Feb. 18 Facebook post. “He has been found but not the way we wanted to find him.”
A GoFundMe page described Lowe’s death as “devastating.”
“He was a bright light in the lives of so many—full of love, laughter, and a spirit that touched everyone who knew him,” the page says.
Deputies said the San Diego County Medical Examiner’s Office will determine Lowe’s cause of death.
Bonsall is about a 50-mile drive north from San Diego.
This story was originally published February 19, 2025 at 2:35 PM with the headline "Tracking device helps mom lead deputies to dead son in submerged car, California cops say."
