The year long speculation is over. Investigators declared Steve Fossett legally dead in February because searchers were unable to even find the wreckage of his plane and made the assumption the plane had been destroyed in a crash. Last month the wreckage was finally found but speculation about the actual fate of Fossett got a second wind when no remains were found.

Two bones, however, were found and tested for DNA last week and they have conclusively been identified as belonging to Steve Fossett.

Genetic tests on two bones found near the wreckage of Steve Fossett’s airplane in the California mountains confirm the missing multimillionaire adventurer is dead, local authorities said on Monday.

“A California Department of Justice Forensics lab has determined that items containing DNA — discovered last week — match James Stephen Fossett’s DNA,” the Madera County, California, sheriff-coroner’s office said in a statement.

Office spokeswoman Erica Stuart said the match of the DNA in the bones discovered last Wednesday brings her office’s investigation to an end.

“The coroner’s case is closed,” Stuart said.

[From Reuters]

Pieces of Fossett’s airplane were found spread out over a large aread of the California mountainside at about 10,000 feet. The first pieces of wreckage and ID belonging to Steve Fossett were found early last month by hikers. As search crews were dispatched more of the plane wreckage was uncovered and a few small remains were located before the bones that were able to be tested were finally found last week.

Fossett’s wife, Peggy, is relieved to have evidence of her husband’s fate. It’s been a long and difficult wait for her, not knowing what had happened to her husband. Peggy Fossett is now waiting to hear the outcome of the National Transportation Safety Board’s investigation into the cause of the airplane crash that took her husband’s life.

Steve Fossett, a multimillionaire, took off in his single engine airplane last September from an airstrip in Nevada and seemed to disappear into thin air, sparking a year long mystery as to his fate. Some speculated that Fossett disappeared on purpose.

Over a year ago, millionaire/adventurer Steve Fossett, best known for his world record voyages around the world in hot air balloons, boats and glider planes, went missing after taking off in a small aircraft in Nevada. After months of searching, and even speculation that Fossett had faked his own death, it is now believed that he died in a plane crash after hikers stumbled upon the plane this morning in Medera County, California. While Fossett’s remains were not found at the crash site, a number of personal belongings and identification were.

Authorities said Thursday morning that the wreckage initially spotted by aerial searchers is the plane piloted by missing adventurer Steve Fossett, not seen since he took off from an airstrip at an isolated ranch in the Nevada desert some 13 months ago.

CNN announced Thursday’s confirmation. No human remains were found.

“They did locate an aircraft which we have now confirmed is the one Steve Fossett was flying when it disappeared last Labor Day,” Madera County, Calif., Sheriff John Anderson said at a press conference.

The news comes after hiker Preston Morrow said that on Monday he found three identification cards bearing Fossett’s name and $1,005 cash in a bush just west of the town of Mammoth Lakes.

“It was just weird to find that much money in the backcountry, and the IDs,” said Morrow. “My immediate thought was it was a hiker or backpacker’s stuff, and a bear got to the stuff and took it away to look for food or whatever.”

Morrow’s discovery made Fossett’s widow, Peggy Fossett, optimistic that closure was a possibility. In a statement Wednesday, she said. “I am grateful to all of those involved in this effort.”

[From People]

In 2002, Fossett became the first man to successfully fly solo around the world in a hot-air balloon. Fossett was close friends with fellow rich adventurer, billionaire Richard Branson. The two had a friendly competition for years over which one of them could pull off the most dangerous circumnavigation. Fossett’s wife had him declared legally dead back in February, but had hoped that she would someday find closure on her husband’s disappearance. It looks like she will finally get that closure: officials have fanned out from the crash site in hopes of finding Fossett’s remains.

Photo below credit: Bart Nagel via Boing Boing.