A woman whose body was found in a stream in the Yorkshire Dales 14 years ago has been identified as a mother of three from Thailand.

North Yorkshire police said DNA tests led them to believe the woman was Lamduan Armitage nee Seekanya, originally from Udon Thani province in north-east Thailand.

The body was found by a group of walkers on the Pennine Way, between Pen-y-ghent and Horton in Ribblesdale, on 20 September 2004.

Detectives initially believed she had died of natural causes, but a cold case team announced last year that the woman may have been a “Thai bride” who was murdered.

In January, Armitage’s family in Thailand came forward to say they had not heard from her since 2004 after seeing an e-fit that resembled her, issued by North Yorkshire police. They said she had married a British man – David Armitage – in 1991 and moved to north-west England four years later. She would now be aged 51.

Police are now appealing for information about her life. She lived in the UK between 1991 and 2004, including in Portsmouth, Rugby and Preston. She is also thought to have visited Thailand between 2003 and 2004.

“Police are working with the Crown Prosecution Service to obtain the legal authority to interview members of Lamduan’s family and conduct inquiries in Thailand and the UK ,” the force said in a statement.

“We are seeking information from anyone who knew Lamduan Armitage née Seekanya or her family between 1991 and up to the time she died in September 2004.

“No matter how small or seemingly insignificant you think the information is, it could prove to be very important to help us establish details about Lamduan’s life and the circumstances surrounding her death.”

Her husband, David, now lives in Thailand, where he works as an English teacher. He told the Sun newspaper: “I didn’t kill my wife. Absolutely not … I know the inferences are there but I’m just getting on with my life. It’s been a long time.”

When she was found she was half-dressed, wearing only Marks & Spencer jeans and socks, with a bra hanging off her left arm. A postmortem suggested she had been dead for between one and three weeks.

The exact cause of death has never been established as her soft tissue had started to disintegrate when she was found, though it was clear she had not been stabbed, beaten with an object or shot.

DCI Adam Harland, who is leading the investigation, told the Guardian last year that two factors had made police treat it as a murder – the fact that she had not been reported missing to police and that her body was moved.

“As soon as you’ve got a dead body in your house, you’ve got to explain why it’s there,” he said. “So when a body is moved it’s usually indicative of the fact that the person who killed them had a close relationship with them.”