Bones Found In Canyon Belong To Swedish Student

Human bones discovered in a canyon in California in 2010 have been identified as belonging to a Swedish student who disappeared in 1982.

The partial skeleton was found in Morrison Canyon on the edge of Fremont in the south San Francisco Bay area of California.

Authorities said it took until last November to identify the remains as belonging to Elisabeth Martinsson.

The 21-year-old, from Uddevalla, close to the Norwegian border, was working as an au pair for a family in Greenbrae, north of San Francisco, while studying at the nearby College of Marin.

Miss Martinsson was last seen buying a pair of boots from a store at Larkspur Landing, just outside Greenbrae, in January 1982.

She had borrowed the family's yellow Volkswagen Rabbit to go shopping.

Ten days after she vanished, a man and a woman were found in the car in Boise City, Oklahoma, 1,100 miles (1,770km) away.

The man, 31-year-old Henry Coleman of Los Angeles, was a convicted rapist who was wanted on a robbery warrant in California.

The Mercury News newspaper said the woman, 26-year-old Sabrina Ann Johnson of Seattle, told police she had been picked up by Coleman in Seattle before they drove east.

Both were arrested for stealing the car while a possible murder was investigated.

Coleman told investigators he bought the Volkswagen from a man he met in a bar in San Francisco.

Prosecutors dropped the case against Ms Johnson for lack of evidence.

Coleman was convicted of auto theft and sentenced to five years in prison.

At the time, a witness said she saw a man resembling Coleman approach a woman resembling Miss Martinsson at Larkspur Landing and they got into a car like the Volkswagen.

Despite the evidence, authorities could not tie Coleman to Miss Martinsson's death.

The Mercury News said about seven bones were found in Morrison Canyon - an isolated spot in hills behind Fremont - but no clothes or other items were found.

The US Department of Justice used dental records to match the remains to Miss Martinsson but they could not determine a cause of death.

Her remains have since been cremated and the ashes returned to her family in Uddevalla.

It is understood they will be buried in her parents grave.

It was not immediately clear why Alameda County sheriff's office have released the information now rather than last November when the remains were identified, although it was reported in a Swedish newspaper last week.

Marin sheriff's officials and Fremont police are discussing how to proceed with the case and have requested more tests from the Department of Justice, Lieutenant Jamie Scardina said.