Breakthrough in search for missing San Francisco man who vanished in 2017

A tibia bony recovered successful Humboldt County has been traced backmost to a San Francisco antheral who vanished successful 2017, according to authorities. 

A woman, Kim Cabrera, discovered the bony sticking retired of the banks of the Eel River backmost successful July, and connected Monday the Humboldt County Sheriff's Office confirmed it belonged to Mark Burleigh, 39. 

Burleigh, who's been missing since October 2017, was past seen in Garberville - a municipality successful Humboldt County - wherever helium was staying with friends, according to a missing idiosyncratic poster that has circulated since his disappearance archetypal unfolded.

The sheriff's bureau said helium past made interaction with a person aft helium was released from the Humboldt County Correctional Facility earlier that month. 

Following her chilling discovery, Cabrera, a Student Information Technician, said she 'immediately' knew it belonged to a human, but ne'er thought she would cognize them. 

Cabrera was near speechless aft she was informed it it belonged to Burleigh, who she knew from her time moving arsenic a teacher's assistance astatine Myers Flat Community School successful the precocious 1990s.

'Once they had confirmed that it was quality by checking with the coroner, past they sent a lawman retired to travel to get the bone, and they took it with them to bash DNA investigating connected it astatine that point, and I had nary thought that was going to crook retired to beryllium idiosyncratic that I knew and that was rather a astonishment and a daze astatine the time,' Cabrera told KRCR TV.  

She vividly remembered Burleigh arsenic a kid who was 'just afloat of life.' 

'He was an entertaining kid, helium was truly energetic, conscionable afloat of life, helium seemed similar helium had a bully aboriginal up of him and helium was ace young, helium inactive had his full beingness up of him astatine that clip and helium was conscionable a bully kid to enactment with,' Cabrera told the outlet. 

Although his tibia bony was recovered implicit the summer, hunt efforts, including K9s, could not find further remains. 

His mother, Jennifer Burleigh, does not recognize wherefore much of her son's remains weren't found, arsenic she has waited years for answers. 

'Last night, I conscionable kept connected wondering, there’s got to beryllium much of him. I gave commencement to a full body…Please don’t springiness up, I request my son,' she told authorities and the community, according to section outlet Redheaded Blackbelt. 

She has continued to station astir her son's mysterious disappearance successful hopes of figuring retired what happened to him. 

The Humboldt County Sheriff's Office is inactive investigating Burleigh's lawsuit and has urged the nationalist to interaction them with immoderate related information.  

Meanwhile, Cabrera is inactive trying to wrapper her caput astir the information that she recovered his bone. 

'It brought each these memories backmost of what he'd been similar arsenic a kid, and what a peculiar kid helium was and truthful it was a infinitesimal of grief and sadness, and I americium inactive processing it, it is inactive precise bittersweet to maine that it turned retired to beryllium him,' she said.