Editorials

CHICO – An autopsy Friday could not determine for certain if the body of a young girl found buried in rural Butte County is the missing daughter of a man believed to have killed himself last week. 

The Butte County sheriff-coroner’s office said it will probably take a DNA test to show if the body found Wednesday is that of 11-year-old Jeanene Bonner of Altadena. 

Blood samples from the body and from Jeanene’s parents have been sent to the California Department of Justice for DNA comparison, with expedited results expected in about two weeks, the coroner’s office said. 

Dental records were inconclusive because Jeanene’s teeth had no notable cavities or fillings, and her most recent x-rays are about three years old. 

The autopsy found nothing to indicate the body is not that of the missing girl, the coroner’s office said. Authorities previously said the body matches Jeanene’s description. 

The girl apparently died of a single gunshot wound to the head, and there were no other notable injuries, the autopsy showed. 

Jeanene was reported missing May 27 to the Los Angeles County sheriff’s office, after her father, Joaquin Garcia, picked her up at school a week earlier.