A family is grieving and asking for help days after their matriarch died in her car after it somehow became submerged in the Sacramento River.
KTXL reported that the Sacramento Sheriff's Department said it believes Nichelle Johnson, 48, was driving her car Sunday and may have driven her car into the river on the foggy night.
KXTV reported that Johnson was driving to help her sister get settled in a new home.
Investigators said Johnson called 911 but was unable to speak. A witness called 911 and reported seeing the car in the rushing water.
According to KXTV, the California Highway Patrol and the local fire department responded but it was too late.
Police said was the river running too fast for a helicopter to put divers in the river to retrieve the car or Johnson, KTXL said.
"I just want them to help us get my mama out of that water. It's been too long. I just need answers. I just need closure," Mikaela Hampton, Johnson's daughter, said four days after the incident. "I don't know how I'm supposed to explain it to my baby."
KXTV reported that a dive team found Johnson's car the next day, but Johnson was not found. Police said they are waiting for a bigger boat and volunteers from outside agencies in order to be able to retrieve the car and search for Johnson.
Hampton wants help getting closure.
"Help get my mom out so we can lay her and put her to rest," Hampton said. "I feel so empty knowing it's my mom. She's never gonna walk in this door."
The family doesn't think officials are moving fast enough.
"They're making no effort at all to go try and save her," Johnson's son, Malik Davis, said "They keep telling us all this stuff that we don't want to hear."
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