Officials confirm body pulled out of Kern River is that of McFarland’s missing city manager

Update: Officials confirmed late Wednesday that the body found is that of John Wooner. “We don’t know if it was a deliberate act, if it was accidental, if it was mechanical or if it was DUI-related,” the CHP’s Sgt. James Nabors told the Los Angeles Times. “None of those are known at this time.”

Original story:

In the end, neither leads nor the promise of reward money solved the mystery of McFarland’s missing city manager. Time did.

A passing motorist Saturday spotted John Wooner’s Dodge Durango underwater at the bottom of Kern River Canyon about 20 miles outside Bakersfield and 10 weeks after the SUV — and Wooner — were last seen at Hillcrest Memorial Park, the Bakersfield cemetery where Wooner’s estranged father was laid to rest.

Wooner, 57, was the McFarland city manager credited with reviving the small Kern County town of 15,000 near Bakersfield. Saturday’s discovery was the first sighting of his city-issued SUV since he disappeared May 14.

“We can positively identify the vehicle as the silver Dodge Durango that is currently registered to the city of McFarland,” California Highway Patrol Officer Robert Rodriguez, a spokesman at the patrol’s Bakersfield office, told assembled media on Monday as reported by Bakersfield television station KGET.

On Tuesday, McFarland Mayor Manuel Cantu and his town still were awaiting identification of the body found inside the sunken Dodge from the Kern County Coroner’s Office.

But any news, even bad, felt like progress, Cantu told The Sacramento Bee on Tuesday.

“For everyone, his family, the city, we feel like we’re moving from nothing to something,” Cantu said.

The car was visible just under the surface of the Kern River, KGET news footage showed. Searchers would find the body of a man inside the rear of the car, likely pushed there over time by the Kern’s rushing waters.

A motorist saw the submerged SUV from Highway 178, the winding pass that cuts through the canyon, about 1:30 p.m. Saturday, CHP officials said.

The SUV had gone over the side of the highway about 4 miles into the canyon and down the embankment into the water below, the CHP’s Rodriguez told The Bee on Tuesday.

A Kern County sheriff’s search and rescue team was called but could not retrieve the vehicle until Sunday morning, the CHP said.

Accident investigators continue to examine why the SUV left the road.

After the discovery, Cantu told KGET that his town was “on pins and needles” awaiting confirmation of their worst fears.

“It was heartbreaking, to say the least, to know that that was our vehicle that was in the river,” Cantu said.

Assuming the grim find is that of the 57-year-old Wooner, one question remains: Why?

Why did Wooner disappear, leaving behind his family and the job he held for a decade in tiny McFarland?

Family members have not spoken to Bakersfield media. Information from Bakersfield police leading the investigation has been scarce since Wooner vanished.

Police officials said Wooner had disappeared under “suspicious circumstances” but little else. A $5,000 reward offered by Bakersfield police in June failed to shake loose clues.

Cantu provided a glimpse into Wooner in a Sacramento Bee interview in June. Cantu had handpicked Wooner for the job in 2010 and credited him with helping lift McFarland out of bankruptcy.

“John was a big part of the change of the new McFarland,” Cantu said in June. “He was a catalyst. ... He helped get us on the map economically.”

Wooner’s family has lived in the southern end of California’s Central Valley for decades. The gravesite he visited was that of his late father, Orval Wooner, once a police chief and city manager of Arvin in Kern County.

Cantu could not figure out why Wooner vanished. It was not about city money, he insisted.

“There is no way he could have taken money,” Cantu said in June. “There is no evidence to support any internal problem with the city,” but he speculated that the pressure of handling the city’s budget may have taken a toll.

Later, Cantu said Wooner “did such a great job for us. It’s hard to move on.”

McFarland has had to, however. The city placed Wooner on paid administrative leave before replacing him in June.

This story was originally published July 30, 2019 at 4:27 PM with the headline "Officials confirm body pulled out of Kern River is that of McFarland’s missing city manager."