A body found in a rural field was identified Wednesday as that of a 17-year-old Southern California girl who was likely kidnapped while walking to a friend's home after a summer class. 
 
 Moreno Valley residents wearing T-shirts of missing teen Norma Lopez, react as authorities confirm that a body was identified through dental records as Norma Lopez, during a news conference on Wednesday,... (Associated Press) 
 
 Moreno Valley residents react as authorities confirm that a body was identified through dental records as Norma Lopez, during a news conference on Wednesday, July 21, 2010, in Moreno Valley, Calif. A... (Associated Press) 
 
 FILE - This undated file image provided by the Riverside County Sheriff's Department shows Norma Lopez, who has been missing since July 15, 2010, after failing to return from a summer school class. An... (Associated Press) 
 
 Riverside County Sheriff's Department Sgt. Joseph Borja, at podium, confirms that a body was identified through dental records as Norma Lopez, during a news conference on Wednesday, July 21, 2010, in... (Associated Press) 
 
 An autopsy confirmed the identity of Norma Lopez, but investigators would not release the cause of death. 
 
 "I don't want to believe it's her," family friend Melanie Villarreal, 18, told The Associated Press. "We know she's in a better place." 
 
 Police and the FBI have not identified a suspect and have asked the public for help in the investigation. 
 
 "We do have a few leads that we're still following up ... but I wouldn't say that we're any closer," Riverside County sheriff's Sgt. Joseph Borja said. 
 
 About 2,000 people gathered around an athletic field at Lopez's school Wednesday evening for a vigil where 16-year-old friend Moises Michel remembered how Lopez loved dance, especially merengue and salsa. 
 
 "Whenever we were bored we'd just dance with each other, we'd get up and dance," he said. "I'm used to seeing her every day smiling. I'm just in shock because I can't believe it." 
 
 The discovery of the body was reported Tuesday just hours after Lopez's anguished family held a press conference to plead for her return, and authorities said they had no clues and announced a $35,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of whoever abducted her. 
 
 Lopez vanished July 15 after leaving a summer school class at Valley View High School, where she would have been a senior this year. Authorities said she was heading to meet a friend. 
 
 When she didn't show up, her younger sister and a friend went to look for her, found some of her personal items in a field 1 1/2 blocks from the school, and called authorities, Borja said. 
 
 The field, a well-known neighborhood shortcut, is off a street that dead-ends at the base of boulder-studded hills cut with trails. Homes line one side, but in the blazing Wednesday heat the expanse of dirt and dry stubble was deserted. 
 
 Searchers fruitlessly covered the area for several days. 
 
 On Tuesday, a resident driving his tractor-mower on another remote field found the body near a stretch of desert road more than two miles away. The decomposed body, shirtless and clad in jeans, was found face-down in a grove of trees in the agricultural area on the eastern edge of Moreno Valley. 
 
 The mix of suburban-style residential sprawl and large rural areas is common in fast-growing Moreno Valley, a city of 186,000 about 60 miles east of Los Angeles between March Air Reserve Base and a swath of unforgiving, rugged terrain known as The Badlands. 
 
 The teen's disappearance drew wide attention across Southern California, where the high-profile abduction-murders of two other teenage girls in San Diego County _ one jogging alone this year and the other walking to school in 2009 _ led to a sex offender who ultimately admitted the killings and is now imprisoned. 
 
 "I believe this has been made personal because we all have children," Borja said. "It's probably our worst nightmare that our kids can just be taken from a street and killed." 
 
 Borja said it was unknown whether the girl was taken by an acquaintance or a stranger. Her boyfriend had been interviewed several times and was cooperative, Borja said. 
 
 He would not provide details on the items found at the site where Lopez was abducted, explaining that releasing further details could hamper the investigation. 
 
 "We haven't caught the suspect who killed Norma so obviously there is at least a murderer out there, and so I would be vigilant, I would be aware," he said. "If I was a parent I would keep track of my children. I would do everything I could to ensure their safety." 
 
 Valley View High School Principal Kristen Hunter said phone notifications had been made to students' parents urging safety precautions. The school has about 3,000 students, with 400 in summer classes. 
 
 Lopez was taking biology over the summer and was doing well in the class, the principal said. 
 
 Hunter said teachers described the teen as a very good student and a quiet girl who never got into trouble. 
 
 On Wednesday, incoming seniors came and went from campus to have their class pictures taken. 
 
 Jennifer Sanchez, 18, said she knew Lopez through a freshman-year club. 
 
 Lopez was sweet and quiet and mostly spent time at school with her older sister, who graduated last year, her younger sister, and her on-and-off boyfriend, Sanchez said. 
 
 "We called them 'the Lopez sisters' because they were really close to each other," Michel said. "They spent a lot of time together." 
 
 (This version CORRECTS A new approach. Updates with details, community vigil, quotes, scene, area description. Corrects that she was walking to a friend's home, not her home. AP Video.) ||||| Authorities on Wednesday positively identified the partially decomposed body found on the desolate outskirts of Moreno Valley as that of Norma Lopez, the 17-year-old high school student who police suspected was abducted after summer school. 
 
 The Riverside County coroner’s office made the determination after a morning autopsy. 
 
 The body was found Tuesday afternoon by a local resident doing yard work in a remote section of town surrounded by wheat fields, just off the 60 Freeway. 
 
 Exposed to the elements during the recent heat wave, the remains were so decomposed that authorities could not immediately determine the sex of the deceased, let alone whether it was Norma's body, said Riverside County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Sgt. Joe Borja. 
 
 Borja said investigators still have no suspects in the case, although a newer model green SUV was seen speeding away from the area where Norma disappeared. 
 
 Norma was reported missing about 12:30 p.m. Thursday by her older sister, Sonja, after she failed to return home from a summer biology class at Valley View High School. She was out of class by 10 a.m. and had plans to meet her older sister and a friend, authorities said. 
 
 Investigators said they found some of Norma's belongings, and signs of a struggle, in a vacant field along Cottonwood Avenue, a popular shortcut among students just a few blocks from the school. They are also looking for the driver and passengers of the SUV seen near the field at the time of her disappearance. 
 
 On Tuesday, the Sheriff’s Department announced a $35,000 reward for information leading to Norma's return or the arrest and conviction of anyone responsible for her abduction. 
 
 Investigators from the Sheriff’s Department and the FBI have interviewed dozens of friends and associates, as well as local felons and others who crossed paths with police. Authorities urged anyone with information about the case to call (877) 242-4345, or send an e-mail to findnorma@riversidesheriff.org. 
 
 -- Phil Willon in Moreno Valley 
 
 Top photo: Riverside County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Sgt. Joe Borja speaks to the media today. Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times. Bottom photo: Norma Lopez 
 

– Remains found in a wheat field near a southern California town have been identified as those of a missing teenage girl police believe was abducted after a summer school program. Norma Lopez, 17, vanished a week ago after a biology class at Valley View High in Moreno Valley. Police have no suspects, but a green SUV was seen speeding from the spot where Lopez tried in vain to fight off her attacker, reports the Los Angeles Times. Investigators found some of Norma's belongings and signs of a struggle just blocks from the school. “We haven’t caught the suspect who killed Norma so obviously there is a murderer out there, so I would be vigilant, I would be aware," said Riverside County Sheriff Sgt. Joseph Barja. "If I were a parent I would keep track of my children. I would do everything to ensure their safety.”