The identity of the human skeleton discovered north of Nevada City in August 2009 finally has been confirmed.

The body is that of Jennifer Lynn O'Brien, who was reported missing in December 2005. O'Brien was 34 at the time of her disappearance.

Speculation in the county had run rampant after a skull and 67 more human bones were discovered by two hikers in a seasonal pond in the Manzanita Diggins area north of Nevada City.

Theories as to the identity of the skeletal remains included Christie Wilson, the woman abducted from Thunder Valley Casino in Lincoln in 2005; Isaiah Marsh, the Nevada County man who disappeared April 14, 2009; and Lilly Wind, a 13-year-old from the San Juan Ridge who disappeared in 1992.

Investigators from the Sheriff's Office and two crime scene experts from the California Department of Justice had collected the skeletal remains, including the skull and the upper denture, and sent them for evaluation by forensic anthropologists from California State University, Chico.

A tentative identification was made in September, but DNA confirmation was completed only recently, said Nevada County Sheriff's Sgt. Steve Tripp.

“We have notified the family,” Tripp said.

For the rest of the story, read Friday's edition of The Union.