Laura Bradbury Death Shown by DNA Evidence : Tragedy: Her family has given up hope for girl who was only 3 when she disappeared in 1984. The case brought national attention to the plight of missing children.

For six frustrating years, the Bradbury family clung steadfastly to the belief that their Laura, a 3-year-old with a Little Dutch Girl haircut and haunting brown eyes, was alive after she disappeared from a campsite in the Joshua Tree National Monument in 1984.

But their hope has now ended, Laura’s grandfather said Saturday. On Friday, San Bernardino County sheriff’s officials announced that new scientific evidence from sophisticated DNA tests on bone fragments discovered in 1986 proves beyond a doubt that the little girl is dead.

“We don’t have any choice but to accept it,” said Dana Winters. “We don’t like it but we accept it.”

Laura’s parents, Patty and Michael Bradbury, could not be reached Saturday for comment.

Winters said the Bradburys have moved out of the area to try to give their two other children, 6-year-old Emily and 14-year-old Travis, a “new start in life.”

“They are grieving right now, the same thing you’d do if you had a child that was murdered,” he said.

Laura Bradbury became an international symbol of the plight of missing children after her disappearance from the family’s Indian Cove campsite.

In the years that followed, thousands of law enforcement investigators, family members, friends and strangers searched the rugged but starkly beautiful terrain looking for signs of the girl.

The Bradbury family mobilized their own massive effort, distributing millions of flyers and T-shirts with Laura’s likeness on them.

The family appeared on radio and television talk shows and the disappearance was reenacted twice on national television. A hot line was established to gather tips and field inquiries, and Laura was one of the first missing children to have her photograph featured on milk cartons.

All along, the family held to their belief that Laura had been kidnaped but was still alive. Then in 1986, hikers discovered a skull cap and other bone fragments of a young child about two miles from the campsite where Laura disappeared. Subsequent examinations by forensic experts linked the fragments to Laura.

Their judgments were confirmed by the DNA tests. Comparing blood samples from the skull fragments and the parents, the tests determined that there was a greater than 99% chance that the remains were of a child of the Bradburys.

Winters said the family shut down the hot line and the little store-front volunteer office in 1988. The materials on missing children and what was left of money donated to Laura’s search fund were given to the Adam Walsh Resource Center for Children. The Westminster center is named for another missing child who received national attention.

Winters said that the family feels some comfort in knowing that Laura’s plight helped to increase public awareness of missing children.

For now, the family is hoping that authorities will someday track down Laura’s abductor.

San Bernardino County sheriff’s officials said investigation of the girl’s death will remain open.