Authorities Identify Human Remains Found In Desert

LANDERS – Human remains found on private property have been identified as a missing woman from Landers.

Police say Anna Jeanette James had been missing since October of 2008. Her whereabouts remained a mystery.

Geraldo Cabrera says his dog “Scoobie” found the skullwhile out playing on his Landers property,but it took awhile before anyone realized it.

Geraldo’s wife, Ariceli, says her kids told her something in the yard smelled very bad. But she didn’t do anything, because she’d had surgery and couldn’t walk or leave the house.

Meanwhile, Geraldo, a truck driver, was out on the road.

When Ariceli was finally able to go outside, she didn’t know what the skull was when she first saw it.

“I called my cousin and her husband. They came over and he said ‘that’s a person’ and then we called police.”

The family says investigators told them the remains appear to be from a child eight to 14 years old.

Some neighbors say they’re not surprised by the find.

“I think people kill somebody, then drag them out here to the desert. Nobody pays attention to them,” said Marlin Shaffer, a Landers resident.

Investigators with the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department have since identified remains found on the property, and will now work to see how she died, and who may be responsible.