08/26/08

BOISE, Idaho (AP) _ Authorities have identified a badly burned
body firefighters discovered while combing through homes that were
destroyed by a wildfire on the city's southeast side.

Ada County Coroner Erwin Sonnenberg says a ``tentative
identification'' shows the victim was Boise State University
professor Mary Ellen Ryder.

The cause of death has not been determined.

Police say it's too soon to tell if Ryder is the same woman who
was reported missing as the blaze started on Monday evening in a
vacant field of sage brush and spread up the ridge to the line of
homes.

The body was discovered early Tuesday.

At least 19 homes were damaged or destroyed and no other
residents were injured, but 17 police officers and at least one
firefighter were treated for various injuries at local hospitals.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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