Big Island police found the body of a 34-year-old woman who was reported missing last month buried in a grave behind the her home in the rural Orchidland Estates subdivision in Puna.

Friends of Dawn K. Gambsky, also known as Dawn Mancilla, last saw her at her Orchidland home in January, and she was finally reported missing by a friend on July 27.

Police Lt. Mitchell Kanehailua said Gambsky lived with her husband on the Puna property. He said the husband has been cooperating with police, and is not considered a suspect at this time.

Kanehailua declined to say what the husband told police about her disappearance because the case is still under investigation.

Police are investigating the case as a coroners inquest and not as a homicide, Kanehailua said. "Right now we are concerned with the manner of death, and that's what the investigation is focusing on," he said.

Kanehailua said police learned Dawn Gambsky might be buried on the property, and obtained a search warrant for the property under a state law that makes it a misdemeanor to bury or otherwise dispose of a body without a permit.

Detectives served the search warrant on the property on 37th Avenue on Friday evening to look for possible burial sites. They began to excavate after a possible grave was found near the home and to the rear of the structure, Kanehailua said.

On Saturday detectives unearthed skeletal remains, and on Tuesday experts used dental records to identify the remains as Gambsky. The medical examiner said Gambsky likely died between December and February, Kanehailua said.

Gambsky earned money selling clothing for dogs on the Internet, and the couple were "pretty private people," Kanehailua said. Police had no record of any type of domestic discord in the household, and Dawn Gambsky was not known to be ill at the time she disappeared, he said.

In at least one case in the past, Puna residents have buried relatives on their property without permits, Kanehailua said. "It's unusual, but it's not unheard of," he said.

Police ask anyone who may have any information about Gambsky's death to call Det. Rio Amon-Wilkins at 961-2386; the police department's non-emergency line at 935-3311, or Big Island CrimeStoppers at 961-8300 in Hilo or 329-8181 in Kona.