The bodies of a 2-year-old girl and her 49-year-old father, Mourad "Moni" Samaan, will be taken the Sacramento County Coroner's Office for autopsies following the discovery of their remains in a wooded area a few miles from Grizzly Flat, a spokesman for the El Dorado County Sheriff's Department said today.
An Amber Alert for the little girl, Madeline Samaan-Fay, was issued Friday after she was abducted by her father. Samaan received notification Aug. 6 that the girl's mother was awarded full custody of their daughter, ending a joint custody arrangement.
FBI agent John Cauthen said the father and daughter were last seen in Sacramento on Aug. 7, when the father uncharacteristically ceased all contact with other family members.
About 8 p.m. Saturday, based on a tip from the FBI, the Sheriff's Department found Samaan's vehicle, a green Toyota 4Runner with the bodies inside, near Grizzly Flat and Cosumnes Mine roads, not far from El Dorado Natinal Forest, authorities said.
"They (the FBI) requested we do a search of a large piece of property in our area," said Lt. Bryan Golmitz, spokesman for the El Dorado County Sheriff's Department. "When we did that, we located the vehicle."
He said the Sacramento County coroner's office is under contract with El Dorado to conduct autopsies. Information about the time and cause of death should come from that examination, he said.
FBI investigators said Samaan, 49, ceased contact with family members and went "electronically dark" a day after receiving the custody notice. He later failed to return his daughter to her mother, who reported her daughter missing Tuesday.
The FBI reported that Samaan, who lived in Fair Oaks, was a U.S. citizen born in Egypt.
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