California police identify remains of missing Saudi student

Abdullah Abdullatif Alkadi is pictured in this undated handout photo provided by the Los Angeles Police Department. REUTERS/Los Angeles Police Department/Handout

Police said on Friday they had identified the remains of a man found alongside a freeway in a Southern California desert city as those of a college student from Saudi Arabia who went missing in September.

Abdullah Abdullatif Alkadi, 23, was last seen at his home in the Los Angeles suburb of Reseda on Sept. 17, the Los Angeles Police Department said. Authorities discovered his body in Palm Desert, roughly 125 miles (200 km) to the southeast, on Thursday.

Further information would not be released until a news conference set for Monday, because the investigation was at a "crucial juncture," police said in a statement.

The FBI had been assisting the LAPD in the investigation into Alkadi, an international student at California State University, Northridge.

University president Dianne Harrison extended the condolences of the campus community to Alkadi's family and friends, in a statement on social media website Twitter.

"Losing such a promising young life is tragic," Harrison said. "We will continue to assist law enforcement in any way we can as they investigate the circumstances of his death."

Broadcaster KCBS-TV reported that Alkadi sold one of his cars, an Audi worth approximately $52,000, on Craigslist around the time of his disappearance.

The Los Angeles Times reported that his cell phone had been traced to the city of Beaumont, some 80 miles (129 km) east of Los Angeles, but that it had been deactivated.