Remains of cold case victim, mother of 2, believed to be found on Colorado mountain

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Remains of Colorado cold case victim believed found

The remains of a body believed to be Beverly England, a mother of two who went missing in 1980, may have been found, potentially putting and end to a decades-long mystery.

A set of bones discovered along the steep slopes of a mountain in Colorado may provide the final clues authorities need to figure out what happened to a woman involved in a love triangle who was last seen in 1980.

The Chaffee County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release on Sunday that "numerous human remains" that are believed to belong to Beverly England were found after law enforcement officials spent five days searching on Mount Shavano, located about 124 miles west of Colorado Springs.

England, a 32-year-old mother of two, was reported missing on June 12, 1980 in Salida, Colo. The excavation operations over the last week involving FBI agents were in the same place where some of England's bones were discovered in 1992, FOX31 reported.

“There were several remains that displayed possible damage and this could possibly reveal a cause of death,” the sheriff’s office said Sunday

Besides the bones found on the mountainside, authorities said "several items believed to be associated with her death" were recovered and collected as evidence.

The set of remains believed to belong to Beverly England were recovered after a five-day search effort. (Chaffee County Sheriff’s Office)

The human remains recovered last week will now be sent to a a pathology lab at the University of North Texas, where they will be analyzed for identification.

A set of human bones connected to England were discovered on Mount Shavano in 1992, but the remains were originally misidentified as being from pioneers. When the bones were properly identified in 2015, the Chaffee County Sheriff’s Department reopened the case.

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Last month, FOX31 reported on unsealed search warrants that revealed England was connected to another woman, Mitzy Abeyta. Law enforcement investigators and relatives of both women said in documents obtained by the station that England had been having an affair with Mitzy’s husband Steven Abeyta, at the time of the 32-year-old's disappearance.

A family friend told investigators that England planned to end the affair with Steven Abeyta, while another witness told police at the time that England and Abeyta were seen together at a doughnut shop the morning of England’s disappearance.

In 2015 after the remains were identified, Mitzy admitted to a detective that she and Beverly got into a "pushing match" and claimed the 32-year-old picked up a broken bottle and cut her on the leg so she ran away, according to FOX31.

Beverly England, 32, was last seen on June 12, 1980. Investigatiors said Sunday they believe a set of remains found on a mountain in Colorado belong to England. (Chaffee County Sheriff's Office)

When FOX31 went to the Abeyta's home in early September, her husband Steven came to the door and said "It's an old thing....It's old what you are looking at," before walking back into the home when asked if his wife was involved with the disappearance.

Chaffee County Sheriff John Spezze pushed for a grand jury to be convened last month in an interview with FOX31, saying search warrants and interviews are "pretty telling of the gravity of the situation."

But the District Attorney for the 11th Judicial District, with covers Chaffee County, has said she can't prove exactly how England died. District Attorney Molly Chilson, who declined to be interviewed last month, told FOX31 in 2016 about her decision to not convene a grand jury.

"The idea that this could be a prosecutable case even if we went to a grand jury and we got minor information from a few people, it would not be the kind of information that could lead to proof beyond a reasonable doubt," she said.