Human remains have been found south of Nordegg, near where a missing Edmonton woman’s car was found earlier this year.
Rocky Mountain House RCMP Sgt. Bill Laidlaw said a grader operator reported seeing the remains near the Forestry Trunk Road, Hwy 734, south of Nordegg on Friday.
Police conducted a search on Friday and found human remains.
The location of the discovery is close to where Anina Hundsdoerfer’s car was last found. The 32-year-old woman was last seen in Edmonton in March.
Laidlaw said right now the remains are linked to Hundsdoerfer by geography only and they have not officially identified the remains as hers.
An autopsy on the remains is scheduled for Thursday.
Hundsdoerfer was last seen on Saturday, March 22, near her office at 99th Avenue and 108th Street in Edmonton, between 1 and 3 p.m. The forest entomologist studied mountain pine beetle.
On March 23, she was reported missing by her roommate. Her vehicle, a blue Toyota Echo, was found abandoned on March 25 at the side of the road on the Forestry Trunk Road about 25 km north of the North Fork Road Junction, Hwy 752. The area where the car was found was about an hour from Rocky Mountain House and about 60 km south of Nordegg on the trunk road.
A search of the area nearby ensued after the discovery of her car, but it was suspended on March 28 due to adverse weather. Further searches using dogs, helicopters, snowmobiles and numerous on-foot searchers were conducted, as the weather allowed, but turned up nothing.
About 15 friends of Hundsdoerfer drove out to the West Country to set up signs asking for information on the whereabouts of the missing woman on April 6. Seven billboards were set up in the area.
Hundsdoerfer was known to camp in the Nordegg area during the summer.
mcrawford@www.reddeeradvocate.com