Authorities investigate whether body linked to missing tourists

Law enforcement source says victim a woman.

The Associated Press

FRESNO, Calif. -- A body has been found west of Yosemite National Park, and the FBI was trying to determine if it was one of three female tourists who disappeared six weeks ago. FBI spokesman Nick Rossi said Thursday a homicide victim had been found and an autopsy was planned. He didn't disclose the gender of the victim or how the victim was killed. A law enforcement source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the victim was female. The body was found near a reservoir along a route from El Portal, just outside the park, where the three tourists were last seen. Nearby is Sierra Village, where the burned bodies of two victims were found in the trunk of their rental car. The site is about halfway between El Portal and Modesto, where victim Carole Sund's billfold was found. Sund, 42, her teenage daughter Julie, and Silvina Pelloso, a family friend from Argentina, were last seen Feb. 15 at a restaurant just outside the western gate of the park. Last week, two bodies were found in the torched shell of the rental car. One body was identified as Carole Sund's. Investigators were using DNA samples to try to determine the identity of the second victim. "We're hopeful this recent development will help investigators solve this case," said Raquel Pelloso, Silvina's mother.

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