SAN ANTONIO -- Human remains found on the property of Six Flags Fiesta Texas on Wednesday were identified on Thursday.

The medical examiner said the skeletal remains belong to Kathleen Gutierrez, 56, who had been missing since last year.

Gutierrez disappeared last August, and one of her sons said the identification was the call he'd been expecting for some time.

"For as long as she had been gone, I wasn't thinking it was going to be a good outlook, but we always hoped," Jason Gutierrez said.

Kathleen Gutierrez was last seen in the La Cantera area in August 2007. Police said they found her car with all of her personal belongings still inside the vehicle in the parking lot of a Security Service Credit Union.

In February, a search team combed the area looking for clues, but they were unable to find anything.

On Wednesday, Six Flags Fiesta Texas security guards found the skeletal remains on the property, but police said it appeared that they had been there for at least six months.

Kathleen's oldest son said he and his younger brother went as far as California following tips in search of their mother.

While the outcome was not what they were hoping, they said they can finally stop searching.

"At least we know now what exactly happened. Now we just got to determine how it happened, and then we'll go from there," Jared Gutierrez said.

A cause of death has not been determined yet, and police said they are continuing the investigation.

Kathleen Gutierrez spent 32 years as an English teacher in the Harlandale School District.

Her family said it is considering starting a scholarship in her name.