Two of the bodies, a woman and a child, were in a submerged van pulled from the river by a salvage diver, said Yolo County sheriff's spokesman Larry Cecchettini. The third body, believed to be a child, was found in the river later that evening by authorities.

The recovered gray Chrysler Caravan belonged to Annie Marie Hernandez, 34. She and her daughters Korra Meyers, 5, and 2-year-old Jesika Hernandez, were last seen by relatives about 8 p.m. Nov. 2 at a McDonald's restaurant on Pocket Road in Sacramento. Her family assumed she was heading home to her husband, but she never arrived.

Her family posted a $15,000 reward for information on her whereabouts, but months passed without a sign.

Thursday, some grim answers emerged when the van was pulled from the river's murky waters along South River Road, about one mile south of Clarksburg.

Authorities will try to identify all three bodies through dental records and many other questions remain. "We do not know the cause of death," said Cecchettini. "We do not know why the vehicle went in the river. The investigation has just begun."

The trio was last seen as they pulled out of the McDonald's parking lot after meeting with Hernandez's mother, Jeanne Peterson and her sister, Denise Gaskins. Hernandez told her mother she was returning home to Galt.

Peterson said her daughter was upset and told them she had been arguing with her husband, Armando, and that she wanted to drop off her youngest boy, 11/2-year-old Daniel, to spend the night with Peterson in Dixon. Hernandez also has another son, Anthony, 10.

Peterson told The Bee in January that it was not unusual for Hernandez's son to stay with her. She added that her daughter and son-in-law had been having marital problems and Annie Marie talked of leaving.

"But I had seen her a lot more upset than she was that night," Peterson said.

Hernandez did not have extra clothing or her asthma medication the night she disappeared. She also left behind her two sons -- leading investigators to believe she did not run away.

Peterson was overcome with grief and in seclusion after Thursday's discovery. Marilyn Johnson, a private investigator hired by Peterson, said the grieving mother spent the day at her home surrounded by family.

"They're trying to do the best they can," said Johnson.

Johnson investigated the Hernandez case for more than six months, she said, talking to Annie Marie Hernandez's friends and family members in several states.

Galt police had been investigating, too. Lt. Jim Uptegrove said there were rumors of sightings in Green Bay, Wis. The Polly Klaas Foundation also joined the search, distributing fliers with the trio's pictures across Oregon, Washington and Northern California.

But nobody found anything conclusive until a diver with Jay's Towing of Walnut Grove found the submerged van.

Cecchettini said the diver and tow company regularly search for cars in the river. They first locate possible vehicles by scanning the waters with sonar. Then they dive and search by hand because visibility in the water is only about six inches.

A diver found the van leaning on a large fallen tree branch that was sticking out of the water, Cecchettini said. The van was on its roof and facing northbound when it was pulled from the water.

David Lujan, a tow truck driver with the company, said he suspected nothing unusual until he spotted a foot sticking out of a broken passenger side window.

Firefighters pried the passenger doors off the van and then investigators began the grim task of digging the bodies out of two feet of river silt that had built up inside. The woman's body was found in the rear passenger area and the girl's body was found behind the back seat. Also found were a baby's formula bottle and a purse. The air bag on the driver's side had activated and the front end of the van appeared damaged.

Cecchettini said the California Highway Patrol's accident investigators would examine the wreckage for a cause.

"We have no way of knowing right now, but my hunch is that this is an accident," Uptegrove said.

Johnson, the private investigator, said it is conceivable that Hernandez may have taken the route near Clarksburg if she had decided at the last minute to go to her mother's Dixon house that night rather than return home.

"If she was voluntarily driving the car, maybe she had a change of heart and said, 'Maybe I should go to my mom's,'" said Johnson.

Bee staff writer Ted Bell contributed to this report.