Police have told relatives of Sara Gomez, a Bend woman missing and presumed dead, that the blood found in her ex-boyfriend’s apartment is hers, according to Patrick Garrett, the man leading the unofficial search for Gomez.

Garrett, who wrote on Facebook on Wednesday that he had been in contact with Bend Police detectives, is engaged to marry Gomez’s sister, Elizabeth Fennell, and has been organizing regular searches for Gomez from a staging area in Alfalfa, east of Bend.

Bend Police did not confirm Garrett’s report Wednesday.

Bloody ropes, blood puddles and smears of blood were found by officers investigating the disappearance of Gomez when they searched the apartment of her troubled ex-boyfriend, Bryan Penner.

Bend Police Chief Jim Porter said last week the department was waiting on blood test results from the Oregon State Police crime lab.

Gomez, 24, was reported missing Feb. 20 after failing to return home from work for several days. Authorities, including Deschutes County District Attorney John Hummel, have said they believe she was killed by Penner.

Penner was arrested on suspicion of violating a restraining order she’d taken out against him. He hanged himself in the Deschutes County jail March 11, casting the search for Gomez or her body in doubt. Information from Penner’s cellphone places Penner heading east out of town the night of his arrest, before the signal was lost.

On Tuesday, rumors swirled online of a “second suspect” in the case.

But Hummel reiterated that officials believe Penner acted alone in Gomez’s death, and they’ve sought other information from people connected to the case who’ve been referred to as “suspects.”

“As of right now we do not know of a 2nd suspect,” Garrett wrote online.

— Reporter: 541-383-0325, gandrews@bendbulletin.com