By NICOL LALLY, NEWS10 Staff

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Saratoga County officials have placed an identity with skull and bone fragments found near the Edinburg/Greenfield town line this week.

According to District Attorney James Murphy, the remains belong to 18-year-old Jennifer Hammond, a young woman originally from Colorado who was last seen in August 2003 at the Creek and Pines Trailer Park in Ballston Spa.

According to the New York State Police Missing Persons website, Hammond is originally from Littleton, Colorado and had made arrangements for a bus ticket from Albany back to her home state.

The ticket was never picked up and her belongings were left behind in an Albany hotel.

She had made no contact with her family since August 2003.

Hammond had a history of running away and has been listed as a missing person for more than six years. Now her death is considered a homicide, days after skeletal remains were found in a heavily wooded area in Edinburg.

Police say the remains found included a skull with parts of a lower jaw and a few teeth, as well as pieces of bone. Although they did not find the entire body, authorities said the existence of teeth helped them identify Hammond.

"There was dental work on three of the teeth that have been recovered, that dental work was analyzed and compared with open cases and we have come up with a positive identification that the victim is Jennifer Hammond," said Major Bill Sprague of the New York State Police.

State police originally had said the remains belonged to a child between the ages of 8 and 12.

From preliminary examination, police were able to rule out speculation the remains belonged to Jaliek Rainwalker, the 12-year-old boy who disappeared from Washington County nearly two years ago.

They also struck down the possibility they belonged to Sarah Ann Wood, a Utica-area girl who disappeared in 1993.

Police would not answer questions about similarities to the case of another missing girl, Christina White.

White's remains were found in 2006 in a wooded area in the Town of Greenfield, about four miles from where Hammond's remains were discovered. Both girls were also last seen in two different trailer parks less than one mile from each other.

Police say they are still very early in this investigation, but they are hoping that by releasing Hammond's name and picture, someone will come forward with more information.