Update: Families describe search for missing daughters, learning of their deaths on Twitter
The discovery of a submerged car with the bodies of two women inside near Ripon on Tuesday left still more questions for the families who had been searching for them since Sunday.
Alyssa Ros, 23, of Long Beach, and Xylona Anita Gama, 22, of Stockton, were last seen between 9:30 and 10 p.m. Sunday at Spring Creek Country Club, where they attended the wedding of Alyssa’s uncle.
Ripon police announced Wednesday that a Spring Creek Country Club employee found a vehicle in the Stanislaus River near a southeastern part of the golf course Tuesday.
Officers, firefighters and rescue personnel responded to the scene to investigate and recover the vehicle from the river. Alyssa and Xylona were found dead inside.
Police have not said whether they suspect foul play or an accident.
The families of both women reported them missing after repeatedly calling their phones and immediately getting voicemail in the hours after the wedding.
Alyssa Ros’ father, Danny Ros, said he left the wedding early because his two younger sons were home in Modesto with a babysitter and it was getting close to their bedtime.
He said that at about 8:50 p.m., he realized he’d forgotten to say goodbye to Alyssa, so he called her.
“Right when I called her, I felt a tug in my heart like, ‘You should go back,’” he said. His daughter told him, “Don’t worry about me, Daddy, I love you and go take care of the boys.”
Ros said sometime before 10 p.m., Alyssa called him and said she would be coming to his house with other family. The relatives arrived, but Alyssa wasn’t with them.
Ros said he called Alyssa at 11 and again around midnight, but her phone went straight to voicemail.
Alyssa had been staying with Xylona at her home in Stockton while she was in town. Xylona had driven them to the wedding, so Ros thought they might have decided to go there instead.
When he called Alyssa again Monday morning and still got no answer, Ros drove to Spring Creek Country Club, taking back roads to look for any sign of Xylona’s car or a crash. He made a report to Ripon police and continued to call his daughter’s phone every 30 minutes throughout the day.
That night, he couldn’t sleep. “Every voice I heard, I woke up expecting it was her,” Ros said.
Family sees disturbing tweet
Ros’ family helped him spread word of the women’s disappearance on social media and put up posters. On Tuesday, Ros’ cousin saw a disturbing tweet and sent it to him.
“2 people were reported missing after a wedding hosted at my job on (Sunday),” said the since-deleted tweet, apparently made by a worker at the country club. “They were just found a few minutes ago ... Dead, in a pond on the golf course. I’m a few hundred feet away from the scene. Bunch of cops and under covers are here.”
The tweet has since been deleted and the sender’s account made private, but Alyssa’s family shared a screenshot with The Bee. Ros said police asked the sender to delete the tweet because “they were worried about misinformation.”
He said upon seeing the tweet, he went back to Spring Creek Country Club, where employees kept him back and he waited several hours before police told him his daughter and Xylona had been found dead inside the vehicle.
Ros said the medical examiner told him the vehicle had gone down a steep ravine and overturned in about eight feet of water.
Xylona’s mother, Crystal Martinez, said she last spoke to her daughter early Sunday, which was the birthday of Xylona’s younger sister. Martinez said family was celebrating the birthday in San Jose and Xylona had hoped to make an appearance at the wedding and then go to San Jose.
Martinez called her daughter around 9 p.m. Sunday but got no answer.
“I was trying to tell her not to worry about going (to San Jose) ,” she said. “I kept calling and calling... at midnight I felt something was wrong.”
She called her again on Monday morning but immediately got voicemail. Martinez drove from her Patterson home to her daughter’s home in Stockton and found Alyssa’s car parked out front but not Xylona’s.
Martinez called Stockton police and learned that Alyssa’s family had also made a report with Ripon police.
The landlord let Martinez into her daughter’s home, where she found Xylona’s three French bulldogs and Alyssa’s dog she’d brought with her from Long Beach. There was no sign of the women.
Tuesday, she got the devastating news of her daughter’s death.
Both families are desperate for answers and question how the women ended up in the river in a location with no road nearby.
A model and a chef
Ros said Alyssa grew up in Stockton and graduated from Weston Ranch High School in 2016. She was a full-time model and part-time student at California State University, Los Angeles. He said she was studying business and communications and wanted to open her own modeling agency some day.
Ros was a week shy of his 18th birthday when Alyssa was born.
“We grew up together,” he said. “I was a young father taking care of a baby.”
He said that as a kid, Alyssa got her own birthday party, but when she got older, she wanted to celebrate their birthdays together.
“Family was number one to her,” Ros said of Alyssa, who he further described as funny, smart, accomplished and goal-oriented.
Growing up, Xylona lived in Ceres, Patterson, Gilroy and Santa Clara, where she graduated from high school with honors, Martinez said. She moved to Stockton as an adult but was going to culinary school in Gilroy and wanted to be a chef, Martinez said.
Martinez fought through tears as she talked about her daughter. She said Xylona was very family-oriented and a fervent “dog mom” to her three bulldogs.
“She was just everything, she made everyone smile,” Martinez said. “She put the light in every room she walked into. She was a happy soul, she would do anything to help people. She will be missed dearly.”
Anyone with information about this case is asked to contact Ripon Detective Gursharan Kang at 209-599-0275.
Families of both women have set up GoFundMe accounts to help with funeral expenses. Click here to donate to Xylona’s family. Click here to donate to Alyssa’s family.
This story was originally published April 6, 2022 at 3:28 PM with the headline "Update: Families describe search for missing daughters, learning of their deaths on Twitter."
