Courtney Bryan and her dog, Booch, were found dead at a crash site off a steep embankment in Del Norte County, California, a month after they were reported missing, the Reno Police Department announced Wednesday.
The California Highway Patrol (CHP) notified the Reno Police Department (RPD) on October 27 that a hiker came across the bodies at a crash site with a vehicle that was registered to the missing 32-year-old of Reno, Nevada.
According to the RPD, the woman and her dog had died from injuries related to the car accident in an area of Highway 101 where accidents are common. They do not believe foul play was involved.
Official identification of the woman’s body is pending with the Del Norte County Coroner's Office, but authorities believe it is Courtney, who was reported missing on September 27 after she didn't return from a trip to the Hunt Hot Springs in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest near Redding, California.
Courtney’s last known location was at the hot springs, which is depicted in her last Instagram post on September 23, 2021. Phone records show Courtney’s last contact with anyone was on the evening of September 23.
Courtney’s sister, Katana Curven, told Dateline in early October that Courtney was a free spirit and known to travel on her own, but that she always checked in with family. When no one had heard from her, they grew worried.
Since Courtney's disappearance, Katana has posted multiple videos on TikTok asking the public to help find her sister.
She told Dateline that she hoped the app would lead to finding Courtney, as it has for other missing person cases. Nearly 700,000 people viewed her first video.
On Wednesday, she posted a video with photos of Courtney set to the song “Yellow” by Coldplay. The caption read, “I love you sister.”
“My sister was found,” she wrote in the comments. “Thank you everyone for all your kind thoughts and prayers and effort. We are going to take this time to grieve.”
