Body Of Missing Oroville Woman Found

The body of an Okanogan County woman who went missing last fall has been found.

The Okanogan County Sheriff's Office says search teams discovered the remains of 21-year-old Sofia Sorenson Amaro of Oroville in a remote area approximately 16 miles from Loomis on Thursday, April 24.

Amaro was reported missing by her family on Nov. 19, 2024 after she failed to return home.

Her car was found covered in deep snow by a group of hunters two days later in the same area where her body was discovered last week.

Chief Criminal Deputy Jodie Barcus says shortly after her vehicle was found, efforts to find Amaro were suspended through the winter months due to heavy snow and harsh conditions.

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"We'd been watching conditions for some time trying to gauge when we could get up there. We went up and did some pre-search intel in an attempt to figure out how far we could get in. The ground searchers needed to be able to navigate the area, so it was a mixture of ground searching and ATVs because the snow level goes from good roads with no snow to all of the sudden being in six or eight inches of snow."

Following the discovery of her body, Amaro's mother released information that Sofia had returned home only days before her disappearance after completing a 30-day stay at an inpatient treatment center for mental illness.

Barcus says it's not suspected that Amaro met with any foul play, and although there appears to be good reason to believe that Amaro may have taken her own life, this has yet to - and may never be confirmed publicly.

"I think her mom really wanted to bring awareness to the mental health issues her daughter was struggling with. She really wanted to communicate that Sofia was a very caring person but she had suffered from mental illness and had been seeking treatment for that."

The search for Amaro included foot searchers, K9 units, motorized ground teams, a helicopter crew, and three mounted agents, and numerous agencies assisted, including the U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Border Patrol, and the Ferry and Spokane County Sheriff's Offices.

The investigation into Amaro's death has now been turned over to the Okanogan County Coroner’s Office.

Barcus did not know if Amaro was of Native American decent.