The Santa Clara County medical examiner's office has identified the body found in an abandoned vehicle earlier this month as a Milpitas woman missing for nearly a year.
Donna Dowell was 68 years old when her family reported her missing to Milpitas police on Dec. 20, 2008.
On Dec. 4, 2009 a hiker found Dowell's body in her 2002 silver Honda Accord near Calaveras Boulevard at Felter Road, in an unincorporated area of Santa Clara County near Milpitas.
The medical examiner's office used dental records to identify Dowell, sheriff's Sgt. Rick Sung said.
Sung said the circumstances surrounding Dowell's death are still under investigation. When she was first reported missing last year, Milpitas police said Dowell had recently been depressed and had mentioned suicide.
