An East County family is planning a memorial for their teenage daughter who died earlier this year of a suspected fentanyl overdose while also trying to figure out why it took them this long to find closure.
The body of 16-year-old Cassidy Hopwood was found back in March, but it was only a few days ago her family found out her body had been in the morgue for months unidentified.
"She was nothing short of perfect. I know every parent says that about their kid, but she really was nothing short of perfect," Cassidy's father Garren Hopwood said.
Garren Hopwood is struggling to come to terms that his only daughter is now gone.
Get top local stories in San Diego delivered to you every morning. >Sign up for NBC San Diego's News Headlines newsletter.
"She was my little girl. She was people’s friend, she was people’s sister," he said.
Cassidy was reported missing to the El Cajon Police Department in February.
Her parents and a nonprofit group, the Rad Movement, had been working since then to try and find Cassidy. It was the Medical Examiner's Office who called the family to say she had been identified.
Local
"The Medical Examiner contacted my mother-in-law and that’s how we all found out. We haven’t heard from the police department," Garren Hopwood said.
For months, Cassidy's father and his family had been holding out hope that Cassidy was still alive. He spent days handing out missing person flyers. They would chase leads that turned up nothing. The fact that Cassidy was at the Medical Examiner's Office for months adds frustration to the pain the family is already feeling.
"A missing persons report and two weeks later they find a body and nothing happens about it. How did they not put two and two together?" Garren Hopwood said.
It's still unclear why it took months to identify a girl who was found just a few miles from where she was reported missing. While Cassidy Hopwood's family continues to search for answers, they're hoping her identification will bring some closure to an incredibly painful chapter in their lives.
La Mesa police don't believe foul play was involved in Cassidy's death but they still want to talk to anyone who might know what happened to her before she died.
Get updates on what's happening in San Diego to your inbox. Sign up for our News Headlines newsletter.
