Case Details
- Photo URLs:
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- Missing Since:
- Missing Since 01/12/2009
- Missing From:
- Missing From Laguna Niguel, California
- Classification:
- Classification Endangered Missing
- Gender:
- Female
- Race:
- Race White
- Date of Birth:
- Date of Birth 12/30/1926 (98)
- Age:
- Age 82 years old
- Height and Weight:
- Height and Weight 5’0 – 5’4, 128 – 145 pounds
- Clothing/Jewelry Description:
- Distinguishing Characteristics:
- Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian female. White hair, brown eyes. Mowrey has dental implants. She has a scar on her abdomen. Some accounts refer to Mowrey as Sara Powell Mowrey or spell her last name “Mowry.” She wears hearing aids.
- Details of Disappearance:
- In January 2009, Eleanor Mowrey disappeared from her Laguna Niguel, California home. She left behind almost everything – her medication, hearing aids, walker, and purse – taking only her wheelchair (though not the leg supports she needed) and keys. Police found unusual activity in her bank account before her disappearance, leading them to suspect foul play.
They searched a landfill for her body, but didn’t find it. The investigation focused on Mowrey’s grandson, Michael Baker, whose truck was found being driven by an acquaintance with a drug record.
Five years later, Baker was charged with Mowrey’s murder and trying to hire people to kill others. Police believed he killed his grandmother at her home and threw her body in a trash bin. A witness reportedly saw him doing this, but didn’t come forward for years. Baker had a history of drug use, violence, and threats.
In 2018, Baker pleaded no contest to lesser charges – trying to kill a witness and being an accessory after the fact – to avoid a life sentence. He received three years, but was released immediately due to time served. He claimed police misconduct, but the prosecution said the plea deal was made because proving the murder would be too difficult.
To this day, Eleanor Mowrey’s body has never been found, but the circumstances strongly suggest she was murdered.
- Agency:
- Orange County Sheriff’s Department 714-647-7000
- Source Links:
This person was missing Missing Since 01/12/2009