The search was suspended Thursday for a 7-year-old boy whose mother was found dead at a Moss Landing beach Wednesday evening, the U.S. Coast Guard said.
The incident was reported to police by a passerby who found a 3-year-old boy sitting on the beach alone and learned that the toddler's mom and brother went missing.
Authorities started searching for the mom and brother before locating the woman's body in the water near Moss Landing Harbor.
27-year-old Florencia Ramirez was pronounced dead at a hospital. Her 7-year-old son, Edgar Espinoza, remains missing.
Florencia's mother said that the victim seemed normal when she called her to say that she had brought her children to the beach.
Coast Guard officials said that air and sea crews combed more than 6 square miles in the span of 11 hours and a half without finding the missing boy.