Oceanside police confirmed on Wednesday that they had located the body of a North County woman who had been missing since late January.
Sara Celeste Otero, 28, was last seen Jan. 28 at 8:40 a.m., when she left her mother's house in the 1800 block of Aldernay Court while driving her Subaru Outback.
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On Wednesday morning, law enforcement officials said Otero's body was found a short distance from her vehicle on Tuesday afternoon in what is believed to be a restricted area of Camp Pendleton.
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In the afternoon, Oceanside police issued a news release that said Otero's car had been found parked at the Vista View Point rest stop on Interstate 5 south and that her body had been found at the bottom of a cliff nearby. Officials said they required assistance from the San Diego County Sheriff Department's ASTREA helicopter to recover Otero's body.
At this point, the cause of death is still unknown, but police said they don't believe foul play was a factor in Otero's death.
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According to a flyer distributed by OPD last week, Otero's family thought she may have gone beach camping in her SUV.
Otero's step-brother Ryan Bear told NBC 7 Otero had "taken space" before but always stayed in touch.
"She stopped responding so I started texting my family and realized something was up pretty immediate after she stopped responding for about four hours," Bear said.
Bear said his stepsister has been battling depression but expressed recently that she "felt like things were starting to improve.”
