Bone pieces found at fire-razed house

DENVER — Authorities said Wednesday that they found small bone fragments that could be those of Edna Nadine Turnbull on the property, where her house was one of about 1,000 homes and buildings destroyed in the Dec. 30 wildfire.

Turnbull disappeared after an emergency responder warned her to evacuate, but the 91-year-old went back inside her home to rescue her dogs. Turnbull and her pets were never seen again.

The dogs were in the house when Turnbull went in to get them, but the animals did not come out so testing is being conducted to determine if the fragments are human or not, Boulder County sheriff’s office spokesperson Carrie Haverfield said. The process can take weeks or months to complete, the sheriff’s office said in a statement announcing the discovery.

The statement officially confirmed the missing woman’s identity for the first time and provided authorities’ first account of Turnbull’s whereabouts during the fire.

Her rural property is at the edge of the former agricultural town of Superior, where subdivisions have sprouted in recent decades, about 2 miles west of where the fire, is believed to have started.