DA: Skeletal Remains Found In Merrimack River Belong To Missing Woman
LOWELL (CBS) --- A skeletal foot and ankle bone recovered on the bank of the Merrimack River in West Newbury more than two years ago, has been positively identified as a missing Lowell woman.
The woman went missing in November, 2006, District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett said Wednesday.
Helena Fells, 55, was last seen in Lowell on November 26, 2006.
At the time, police found her parked car near the Merrimack River and a search dog tracked her scent from the car to the river's edge.
Since then, police believed she had drowned even though they never found her body.
In 2011, an environmental clean-up company had recovered a human foot and ankle bone inside of what appeared to be a female shoe.
Detectives learned that two women were reported missing in the vicinity of the Merrimack River in the past several years.
DNA samples were taken from a member of each woman's family.
The testing found the remains belonged to Fells.
