The body of Zyanya Valora, an Ojai Valley woman who had been missing for more than a year, has been discovered, according to the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office.
Senerey De Los Santos, a sheriff’s spokesperson, confirmed that Valora was found deceased but would not provide details, such as the date or location of the discovery.
The woman was last seen by relatives the evening of June 24, 2024, at her family’s home in the 11000 block of North Ventura Avenue in Mira Monte, an unincorporated community in the Ojai Valley, according to the sheriff’s office. She was 21 at the time of her disappearance.
On a website dedicated to finding Valora, her parents, Damaris Dac and Gabriel Valora, wrote that they believe she walked out of the home around 2 a.m. the following day. They discovered a screen had been removed from her bedroom window.
Zyanya Valora’s phone connected to a public Wi-Fi network around 3 a.m. that morning near Barbara and Oakcrest streets, two blocks from her home, the parents wrote.
During authorities’ search and rescue operation, K-9s tracked Valora’s scent to an area near the Oak View Community Center and her parents wrote on the website that they believe someone may have abducted her.
Damaris Dac and Gabriel Valora wrote that their daughter was autistic and had a tendency to wander off. She had left home in the middle of the night in 2020 but she was found at a nearby church with her Bible within a few hours.
Zyanya Valora’s disappearance was the subject of Missing in the Ojai Valley, an April 26 workshop that the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office hosted to raise awareness about local cases. Damaris Dac handed out posters at the event to draw attention to her daughter’s case.
Early news reports indicated the family lived in Meiners Oaks.
Makena Huey is an investigative and watchdog reporter for the Ventura County Star. Reach her at makena.huey@vcstar.com. This story was made possible by a grant from the Ventura County Community Foundation’s Fund to Support Local Journalism.
This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Ojai Valley woman’s body found more than a year after she went missing