PANAMA CITY (AP) Panamanian officials have identified the skeletal remains of a California woman who disappeared in 2011 in Panama after arriving in the country with her boyfriend, authorities said Wednesday.
DNA testing confirmed that the remains found last week on the island province of Bocas del Toro came from Yvonne Lee Baldelli, who was last seen there in November 2011, prosecutor Vielka Gisela Broce said.
Broce said a man who was cutting bushes found a bag containing Baldelli's remains on Aug. 20 and contacted police.
The 42-year-old woman from Laguna Nigel, California, arrived in Panama with boyfriend Brian Brimager in September 2011. Her family reported her missing the following January.
Baldelli's family has said Baldelli, a clothing designer, was frequently out of touch so they did not immediately suspect anything was wrong.