The long-time friend of an American tourist missing in Highland Perthshire said she is “100% certain” remains found at the weekend are hers.
Susan McLean disappeared from the Moness Resort at Aberfeldy on May 17 and volunteer searchers discovered remains on Saturday afternoon. The death is being treated as unexplained.
Police had previously carried outseveral searches around Aberfeldy but they were unable to find the 61-year-old.
Last month her friend LornaVanderZanden flew to Scotland from the US to reignite the search.
A search party organised by the retired US Army veterinarian wasjoined by specialist search dogs fromvoluntary organisation K9 Search and Recovery Scotland.
Two members of the group found a body in woodland around a half a mile from the Crieff road at around 1.15pmon Saturday.
While police have notformally identified the remains DNA testing will be undertaken Lorna said she has no doubt that they belong to her missing friend.
She said: “I’m sure there will need to be a post-mortem analysis and officially the police won’t even confirm they have identified her, but it’s her clothing.”Husband says: “We will meet again in a better place“Lorna added that during her many searches over the past few weeks, she had passed by the spot where Susan lay on a number of occasions.
She said: “I am shocked and surprised. She’s about 30ft inside a section of woods and I’ve been past her manytimes and just didn’t look far enough into that section.
“Our community walkers found her. We were walking through the sections we had divided off on the map. We assigned two people to each section and one couple found her. This is proofthat systematic searching does work.”
Susan was found by local residents Adam Weir and Brooke Baker. Brooke said: “I saw a bit of paper on the ground and I bent down to take a photo, as I hadn’t seen anything man-made on the trail. Then Adam said, ‘I’ve got her’.
“I just started shaking and ran out and screamed my head off so the other searchers could hear, then I phonedthe police.”
Lorna said she could not imagine life without her friend. She said: “I’ve known her 27 years and she was closer than a sister. I just couldn’t stay in the US and not know what happened to Susan.
“I’m going to miss her so much; there’s a hole in my heart that she used to fill. She was one of those people that whenever I needed a good friend, I would go to her and she would always welcome me. I wish this time I could have been there for her.”