Girl Missing After Father’s Apparent Suicide

Authorities are puzzled by the apparent suicide of a Downey man on a desolate, wooded road in Northern California and the disappearance of his 11-year-old daughter, who was supposed to be with him.

Deputies on Wednesday found the body of Joaquin Garcia, 35, in his pickup along sparsely traveled California 32 near the tiny town of Butte Meadows, about 100 miles north of Sacramento. He had a gun in his right hand and appeared to have been dead a few days, said Cheryl Broom, a Butte County Sheriff’s Department spokeswoman. Garcia had no known connection to Butte County, relatives said.

But his daughter, Jeanene Bonner, was nowhere to be found. In the truck, authorities found items identified as belonging to her. But search-and-rescue teams, helicopters and scent dogs could not find the girl, Broom said.

Blood in the truck was sent to a Justice Department facility in Chico for DNA analysis, Broom said. In fact, authorities said it is possible that Jeanene, who was set to return last Friday to Loma Alta Elementary School in Altadena, never made it to the site where her father’s body was found. The passenger-side door of the pickup was locked, and Garcia’s body blocked the driver’s side--leading investigators to believe that the girl was elsewhere when her father died.

Garcia picked up Jeanene on May 21 and was to spend a couple of days with her, said Kim Almodovar, 34, the girl’s mother. Garcia and Almodovar have joint custody of Jeanene, a sixth-grade honor student and member of the drill team.

Father and daughter were to return to Almodovar’s Altadena home May 23. Instead, receipts found in Garcia’s Nissan Frontier suggest that they stayed at Las Vegas’ Luxor hotel and checked out the day Garcia was to return the girl.

Almodovar said she was in Las Vegas at the same time on business but had no idea Garcia and her daughter were there.

“I’m shocked and very concerned about what may have happened to my daughter,” she said. Almodovar said that there were tensions between her and Garcia, who fought over custody of the girl but that she could not imagine him harming her.

She filed a missing persons report with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department on Monday. Almodovar said she waited a few days because she thought Garcia might have taken their daughter to Lake Havasu--something he had discussed in the past.

It’s unclear where Garcia and Jeanene traveled after they left Las Vegas, although authorities know the father’s trek ended about 20 miles northeast of Chico.

“Jeanene’s part of the puzzle. She can answer questions we have,” said Lily Peters, 31, Garcia’s sister. “I’m hoping we find her. We love Jeanene very much.”

Relatives described Garcia as an outdoors type who was very close to his parents and siblings and who doted on his daughter. He lived with his parents.

“I can’t comprehend that he’d do such a thing, especially if he left his little girl so far from home,” said his mother, Ana Garcia, 58. “His girl was his life.... He was an exemplary son, very affectionate and loving. He loved himself, and he loved his daughter. I don’t believe he would kill himself and leave her.”