Expert Unable to Link Bones to Bradbury Girl

An expert at California State University, Fullerton, has been unable to determine whether bone fragments found last Saturday in the Joshua Tree National Monument are those of 3-year-old Laura Bradbury, who disappeared on Oct. 18, 1984.

According to a San Bernardino County Sheriffs’ Department spokesman, forensic anthropologist Judy Suchey determined that the fragments were from a child between the ages of 2 and 5, but she was unable to say what sex or race the child was. A county pathologist earlier estimated that the bones were of a human who had been dead less than two years.

The fragments were scheduled to be shipped to an FBI laboratory in Virginia late Wednesday, according to Sgt. Mike Stodelle.

“We can’t pass up the possibility that they’ll be able to narrow down the age for us,” Stodelle said.

The remains, including the top of a child’s skull, were found by two hikers in an area one mile northwest of the Indian Cove campsite where the Huntington Beach girl vanished, while accompanying her older brother to an outdoor toilet.

Lt. Dean Knadler, a member of the task force assigned to find the child more than a year ago, said there was “nothing new at all” in the investigation, but that another search of the area where the bones were found is planned for Saturday.

Suchey, an expert in skeletal reconstruction, declined to comment on her findings.

Although deputies have not connected the remains to the Bradbury case, which attracted attention nationwide, they contacted the family early this week because of “the coincidence” of the age of the child whose bones were found and where they were found.

Virginia Winters, Laura Bradbury’s grandmother, said that the storefront volunteer center in Huntington Beach received about 25 telephone calls Wednesday, “a lot of sympathy calls, people calling to give us their support.” Among the calls, Winters said, was one from the mother of Kevin Collins, a missing boy from the San Francisco Bay Area whose picture appeared on the cover of Newsweek in connection with a story on missing children. Collins’ mother told Winters how the discovery of skeletal remains in Calaveras County had raised speculation that they belonged to Kevin, which turned out not to be the case.

Mike and Patty Bradbury, Laura’s parents, are out of Southern California but said they planned to return by the end of the week.