UK bodies: Postmortem inconclusive

Holly and Jessica's bodies were found in a remote woodland spot 10 miles from their homes

SOHAM, England (CNN) -- Postmortem examinations on two bodies found on Saturday in a remote area of eastern England are "inconclusive" but police still believe them to be the bodies of two missing 10-year-old girls.

Police said the postmortem exams, conducted by Home Office pathologist Mat Cary, and completed early on Monday morning, did not confirm that the bodies were Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman.

Additional tests, which could take several weeks, will be necessary, said police who added that authorities still believe the bodies are the two girls.

Police continue to hold two suspects on suspicion of murder but have not charged them. Authorities are expected to ask a judge to extend the detention of a 28-year-old man and his 25-year-old girlfriend, who are due for release on Tuesday. The two are being held in separate facilities in Cambridgeshire.

Police did not release the names of the two who were arrested, but earlier they said they had spent almost seven hours Friday questioning caretaker Ian Huntley, 28, and his girlfriend Maxine Carr, 25, about the girls' disappearance.

EXTRA INFORMATION Picture gallery: The hunt for Holly and Jessica    MORE STORIES • Holly and Jessica: Child victims  • Parents' agony    EXTRA INFORMATION • Timeline: Hope, grief and despair

The house where the couple lived, near the school, was one of the last places the girls were seen, police said at the time.

Sunday, Deputy Chief Constable Keith Hoddy said: "We are certain as we possibly can be tonight that (the bodies) are those of Holly (Wells) and Jessica (Chapman)," who have been missing from Soham since August 4.

The parents of the two girls -- Nicola and Kevin Wells and Sharon and Leslie Chapman -- issued brief statements of thanks for the support and kindness afforded them during the investigation. The Chapmans also specifically asked for "some time alone."

"Although still numb after losing our gorgeous daughter Holly, please accept our heartfelt thanks for everyone's help and support throughout this traumatic fortnight," the Wells' statement said.

Hoddy, who read the statements in the churchyard of St. Andrew's Church in Soham, also asked "media representatives to withdraw from this community for a while to allow it to come to terms with this terrible loss."

At a packed St. Andrew's Church earlier on Sunday, the Rev. Tim Alban Jones, Soham's vicar, said during his sermon that there was not a single member of the small community who had not been moved by the girls' disappearance.

The two bodies were found at the end of this track running alongside the Lakenheath Air Base

He also spoke of the "pain and anguish" of the parents after the discovery and the "difficult and searching questions that have no easy answers."

The parents of the girls, who attended a church service for their daughters last Sunday, were not present this week.

The girls have been "our first thought in the morning and last thought every night," the vicar said. "Throughout this devastating fortnight we have had the images of Holly and Jessica etched on our minds. Pictures of their happy, smiling faces have been displayed in just about every window in town."

Hoddy's announcement on Sunday came as a bitter blow to the girls' families, police officers who helped in the search, the people of Soham and the nation. Many had clung to hope that the pair would be found alive.

More than 400 police officers from 21 police forces were involved in the hunt, and several national newspapers offered rewards totaling more than $1.5 million for information leading to their safe return.

Cambridgeshire police said Huntley and Carr had agreed to be questioned and had been treated as "significant witnesses." The couple's home searched using what police described as highly sensitive equipment.

Huntley works for Soham Village College, near St. Andrew's Primary School, which the girls attended. Carr has taught at St. Andrew's, and knew both children.

Huntley has been part of the investigation since the beginning, after telling police he saw the girls the night they vanished. He said they walked past his house as he was washing his dog, and has said more than once: "I must have been one of the last people to see them alive."

Early on Saturday, police said they recovered "items of major interest" from Soham Village College. The items, which were not described, will be examined for forensic evidence.