Still no positive ID on remains believed those of missing woman

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (AP) -- Investigators are certain the remains unearthed two months ago on farmland north of St. Joseph after an anonymous tip are those of a young woman who disappeared in 1981, but they still haven't made a positive identification.

Police said Tuesday that tests done on a tooth and rib bone have not provided enough DNA to confirm the remains are those of Rhonda Burgess, who was 22 when she disappeared. Her former husband, Michael E. Milbourn Sr., 44, and his mother, Shirley A. Milbourn, 66, have been charged with second-degree murder.

The Kansas City Police Department's crime laboratory has been helping with efforts to identify the remains and is examining a thigh bone in an effort to get a DNA match, said Cmdr. Larry Smith of the St. Joseph Police Department.

"I feel real positive we have the right person, the right remains," Smith said Tuesday. "But I'm not real confident they will be able to extract the DNA and do the match we need."

He said that if that testing doesn't produce a positive result, police may send portions of the remains to a private laboratory for mitochondrial DNA testing, a less-precise method that does not require as much DNA.

Still, Smith said, "Even if we weren't positive through DNA testing, other circumstances are enough to lead us to believe that that's Rhonda Burgess."

Clothing found with the remains, he said, matches what Burgess was reported to have been wearing when she was last seen.

Meanwhile, some members of Burgess' family are getting impatient. They had made arrangements for a funeral, now put on hold while the identification process continues. Plywood covers a gravesite at St. Joseph Memorial Cemetery, next to the graves of Rhonda Burgess' parents.

"I'm not sure what's taking so long," said her uncle, Bud Burgess, who lives in Indiana. "I wish they'd hurry up so we can put her to rest."

"I really don't care where they identify her, I just want it completed," said sister-in-law Sherrie Burgess. "We can't give her a proper burial until that happens."

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Information from: St. Joseph News-Press, http://www.stjoenews-press.com