The partial remains of a missing California woman were found off the coast of Panama inside a zippered bag, the FBI reports.
DNA analysis positively identified the skull and bones as belonging to Yvonne Baldelli, 42, who has been missing since November 2011.
According to Fox News, a Panamanian resident found the remains inside a green “military-style” backpack and turned them over to authorities.
Her boyfriend at the time of her disappearance, Brian Brimager, 37, of Vista, Calif., is accused of killing her and staging an elaborate cover-up of her death, officials say.
Brimager, a former marine, was indicted in San Diego in June on 10 charges of obstruction of justice and making false statements to feds about Baldelli’s murder.
The indictment says that Baldelli was last seen the evening of Nov. 26, 2011, leaving an island steakhouse with Brimager on Isla Carenero, a small island off Panama's coast. She had not been seen since, UT-San Diego reported.
While Brimager has not been formally charged with murder -- a decision left up to Panama authorities -- the indictment states that he killed his girlfriend of two years in their hostel and disposed of the body in an unknown location.
In September 2011, the couple had decided to move to Panama in hopes of starting a new life after Baldelli was let go from her job at Proctor & Gamble.
Trouble in paradise came swiftly.
According to the Daily News, witnesses at the hostel where the couple was staying told authorities that the two fought loudly and reported seeing Baldelli with bruises on her arms and face. Soon after their move Panama, Brimager began emailing another woman, the mother of his young daughter, planning to move back to California, the indictment alleges.
In an elaborate plan to conceal his girlfriend’s death, Brimager is accused of sending emails from the victim's laptop. Acting as his girlfriend, he said she was traveling to Costa Rica with another man, NBC San Diego reports.
U.S. prosecutors also state that Brimager used her ATM card in Costa Rica after her disappearance to make it look as though she was still alive.
Just one day after Baldelli went missing, investigators found an Internet search on Brimager’s computer for "washing mattress blood stain."
Brimager faces up to 20 years in prison on each of 10 obstruction of justice charges and five years for the false statement charge. He is currently being held on bail and faces a $2.5 million fine if found guilty of all charges.
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