Body Found in River Is That of Missing Girl, Authorities Confirm

Authorities confirmed Friday that a body found in the Eel River was that of 14-year-old Raina Bo Shirley, who vanished almost a month ago after she and a friend were given a ride by a man and his nephew.

Mendocino County Sheriff’s Lt. Jay Miller confirmed the identity . He said an autopsy would be needed to confirm the cause of death, but said there were no obvious signs of assault.

Raina’s body was found Thursday afternoon at Van Arsdale Reservoir.

On Thursday evening, his eyes welling with tears, Earl Preffer knew the hand-painted poster over his shoulder would be coming down soon.

The poster showed a smiling blond girl and three words that have occupied this tiny town for three weeks: “Bring Raina Home.”

Preffer and scores of Potter Valley residents have spent much of their free time searching for Raina, who disappeared March 13. He went to the office set up for the search after word spread Thursday that a body had been found at the reservoir on the Eel River.

A Pacific Gas & Electric Co. employee found the body near a fish screen at the reservoir, about a mile south of where Raina was last seen. The body was recovered by a sheriff’s diving team.

Raina disappeared after she and a friend accepted a ride with a 28-year-old suspected drug dealer and his 13-year-old nephew, authorities said.

The missing girl’s friend was later found dazed and stumbling down a street. She told authorities that she had been drugged and raped, then released. The 13-year-old girl did not know what happened to Raina.

Raina’s clothes and backpack had been found upstream from the reservoir on the north bank of the river near Potter Valley, a farming community about 110 miles north of San Francisco.

The nephew was arrested, but authorities have been unable to find Arnoldo Jorge Manzo, who may be in Mexico, officials said. A warrant was issued for his arrest.