.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Rescue crews have suspended their search for missing 24-year-old Brittany Johnson after recovering human remains at the base of a steep cliff on the west side of the Sandias on Friday evening.

Crews spotted the remains around 5 p.m. Friday and spent hours trying to rappel down the cliff face in the rain to reach them, according to Lt. Pete Golden of the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office.

Rescuers were able to hoist the body to the top of the mountain, then drive it down the Crest Road to meet an employee of the Office of the Medical Investigator, who couldn’t make it up the road because of bad weather.

ADVERTISEMENTSkip

................................................................

OMI will do an autopsy today and determine whether the body is Johnson’s.

Golden said Friday that authorities notified Johnson’s family and asked the members of the community to keep the family in their thoughts.

“They have been notified so they can be prepared,” Golden said.

It’s the second set of human remains crews found during their three-day search. On Thursday night, they found remains that weren’t Johnson’s.

Deputies believe the bones found Thursday night could be those of Mary Jackson, a woman missing since 2013.

Golden said rescuers found no identification near the remains, but investigators suspect they are Jackson’s because of their advanced state of decomposition and the location where they were found.

“The timing and the area is consistent,” Golden said. “Circumstantially, it points to her.”

In October 2013, New Mexico State Police issued a missing and endangered person alert for Jackson, who was then 58. The alert said that Jackson had been depressed and suicidal and that her car was found at Sandia Crest with her purse inside.

Golden said a crew searching southeast of the Crest road Thursday night found the bones, along with a backpack, hiking shoes and a jacket.

He said he hopes OMI will be able to identify those remains by next week.

“I was told there was a good set of teeth, so we can get dental identification,” he said.

Rescue crews began searching for Johnson on Wednesday morning after her car was found in the Crest parking lot with her keys on top and her purse and backpack inside. She was last seen in Albuquerque on Saturday, and her family reported her missing Sunday.

“The level of effort rescuers put forth has been fantastic,” Golden said.