Skeletal remains found a week ago during a search of the Ballona Wetlands and Ballona Creek have been positively identified by the coroner's office as those of a woman who was last seen in December, police said Friday.
The remains were those of Kolby Story, 32, who was last seen on Dec. 7, 2020 in the Venice/Mar Vista area, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.
Authorities found the remains on July 16 while searching a roughly 600-acre area of the Ballona Wetlands and Ballona Creek near Marina del Rey following the discovery of personal items belonging to Story, the LAPD reported.
According to Story's family, Kolby was at Venice Beach the evening of Dec. 6 and called a friend asking for help finding her car keys, which she had lost on the beach. They found the car keys and Story got in her car about 2 a.m. Dec. 7 to drive home to Mar Vista, but never made it home.
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Her car was later discovered in a Marina del Rey impound lot. The car, with a flat tire, had been towed from a parking lot near a Ralphs grocery store in Marina del Rey.
On July 16, personnel from the LAPD and the California Office of Emergency Service, Fire and Rescue Division, including canine teams, conducting the search, and members of Story's family also took part.
Police said the search was prompted by the discovery of some of Story's personal property, which had been found in the area and turned over to police.
Anyone with information on the case was urged to call the LAPD Robbery-Homicide Division at 213-486-6890, or 877-LAPD-247.
