The wreckage of Fossett's plane was discovered in the California mountains last month

The Madera County's medical examiner's office in a statement on Monday said the California justice department forensics lab had found a match between "items containing DNA" discovered at the wreckage last week and Fossett's DNA.

"The coroner's case is closed," Erica Stuart, a spokeswoman, said.

Fossett, 63, disappeared after taking off in a single-engine Bellanca Citabria Super Decathlon plane from an airstrip in a Nevada ranch, sparking a massive search operation.

He was declared legally dead in February when nothing was found after weeks of extensive land and air searches.

Early last month a hiker found Fossett's identification papers near the Yosemite National Park and alerted local authorities who later discovered the plane wreckage.

Fossett's widow, Peggy, said she was now waiting for the conclusion of the National Transportation Safety Board's probe into her husband's crash.

"I am hopeful that the DNA identification puts a definitive end to all of the speculation surrounding Steve's death," she said in a statement to the Reuters news agency.

In 2002, Fossett became the first person to circle the globe solo in a balloon and had about 100 other world records to his name.

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