I think we should be cautious with making the presumption the bone fragment was in salt water the entire time. The possibility exists it was unearthed due to the heavy flooding in March/the spring of 2006 and made it's way to the ocean about that time rather than much earlier.
I'm fairly confident they will be able to obtain DNA. DNA has succesfully been obtained on remains hundreds and thousands of years old, so I think it is too soon to make the assumption dna might not be obtainable on something that may be a decade or a few decades old.
I did do a search when we first made this discovery about obtaining dna when submerged in salt water. The info I found only indicated there really haven't been any studies, or enough studies and it is currently unknown how long remains could be in salt water before dna would be unobtainable.
Until we have an official rule out, I'm afraid to assume these may not belong to Anna. I'm hoping for a rule out, but cautious not to get my hopes up to high because the let down will be too great if we are wrong.
In other cases when family is awaiting a possible match, the coroners office is usually good at staying apprised of the status for which the process of obtaining DNA is going and giving the family regular updates. I'm hoping the San Mateo coroner's office will extend the same courtesy here with this possible match, especially knowing a family is waiting in limbo to know if this is their loved one.
I think it was about a week prior to notifying Anna's mom of the possible match, that Doogie had contacted the ME regarding the possible match. So we should be at the 3 month mark now. Hopefully Doogie will make a courtesy check, being at the 3 month mark, just to inquire if the ME's office has any information on when results may be expected, or if there is any additional information they can obtain/share at this time.
