DNA testing confirmed Wednesday the bones were those of 28-year-old Ismael Lopez, Lt. Kevin Rooney said. Investigators were trying to determine whether he killed himself.
Police were searching for Lopez in connection with the Sept. 28 shooting of Mir Najibullah Sadat Sahou.
Sahou, 68, was shot several times and left on La Jolla Scenic Drive.
Neighborhood residents told investigators they saw the cab stop, and the driver and passenger get out and begin to argue before the passenger shot Sahou three times and drove away, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported earlier this year.
The car was later found abandoned.
Divers in October and November reported seeing human bones about 150 yards (meters) offshore of La Jolla about a mile from where the cab was found.
Police and lifeguard divers recovered more bones in the area, including a piece of skull with a bullet hole in it, from an offshore reef, Rooney said.
The time of Lopez’s death is unclear but he may have died the night of Sahou’s killing, Rooney said.
Sahou, a father of four, was governor of Afghan’s central bank before he and his wife were granted political asylum in the United States in the 1990s, family members have said.
He also hosted “To Find the Truth,” a weekly talk show on Afghan affairs, on Irvine-based Ariana Afghanistan International TV.
Some relatives have asked whether the killing might have political overtones while others believe it was a violent robbery.
Investigators have found no evidence that Lopez knew Sahou before the killing or that he had any accomplices, Rooney said.
