Two women found in car in river ID’d

Two women whose bodies were found last week in a car submerged in the Stanislaus River in Ripon, north of Modesto, have been identified, authorities said.

The women were identified as Alyssa Ros, 23, of Long Beach and Xylona Gama, 22, of Stockton, according to the Ripon Police Department. Both women drowned.

Ripon Police Sgt. Jared Heuvel said there was no evidence of foul play. A toxicology report could take several weeks to complete.

Ros and Gama were last seen the night of April 3 leaving a wedding at Spring Creek Golf & Country Club in Ripon, said Ros’ father, Phalnithada Danny Ros. A country club employee spotted the vehicle in the river beside the golf course on Tuesday and notified police.

Ros told her father that she and Gama were on the way to his house in Modesto, the elder Ros told The Times. According to surveillance footage, the two were the last to leave.

When the two women did not arrive that night at his house, he said, he felt something might be wrong.

Alyssa Ros grew up in Stockton and moved to Southern California to study business and communications at Cal State Long Beach, her father said. A part-time student and model, she met Gama at a club in Stockton seven years ago. Ros had invited her friend to a relative’s wedding.

After driving back and forth between his house and the country club to see whether any cars had veered off into the orchards or into the water, the elder Ros received a message from his cousin. It was a screenshot of the golf employee’s tweet about finding the missing women.

“I rushed to the golf course driving like a maniac,” the elder Ros said.

“It’s going to be hard for me going forward each and every day, knowing that she’s not here with me,” he said.

Crystal Martinez, Gama’s mother, set up a GoFundMe page to request donations to cover funeral expenses for Gama, a model and aspiring chef. On it, Martinez said she called her daughter “Munchies” and described her as “my best friend, my confidant, my everything.”