cnn's alexander field joins me now from new york with more. i have to say this has been a mystery to all of us. are we learning anything more about this woman, particularly to understand why no one would notice that she had been gone for five years or disappeared for five years? >> reporter: this is raising so many questions for so many people, just a really disturbing story in the sense that she was gone for so long and no one noticed it. we know from the sheriff's office that dental records will be needed to positively identify the woman. how could it be that six years later somebody finally discovered her? the oakland count y sheriff say there were a number of factors. she was last seen back in september of 2008, around the time when she stopped working. so there wasn't an employer looking for her. her mail was being delivered to the post office, so nobody noticed it piling up.