Remains Likely Are Of Missing Woman

Skeletal remains thought to be those of a woman who mysteriously disappeared from her Mount Rainier National Park job in October have been found near the Longmire campground.

Clothing found with the remains - a dark sweat shirt, lightweight hiking boots and long, dark pants - are similar to that worn by Sheila Ann Kearns when she was last seen by co-workers Oct. 4.

Kearns, 43, worked as a housekeeper at National Park Inn. She was reported missing after she didn't show up for work Oct. 6.

The remains were found Saturday by a park volunteer working near the Longmire campground about a mile from the National Park Inn, said Donna Rahier, park spokeswoman. Announcement of the discovery was withheld until yesterday at the request of the woman's family, she said.

Confirmation of the identification through dental records and the cause of death likely will be determined by the Lewis County coroner's office by tomorrow, said Dick Thurston, FBI spokesman.

An FBI forensics team was on the scene Saturday and treated the area as a crime scene, Thurston said. The FBI is involved because the park is federal property.

The FBI earlier offered a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of anyone involved in Kearns' disappearance.

Park officials at first believed Kearns might have become lost on a trail but later said she might have been abducted.

The only items missing from Kearns' apartment were her key to the unit and the clothing she wore. All of her clothing, possessions and her car were intact.