Northern California Murder Investigation Heats Up

New leads, new evidence, and a new detective in a Northern California murder investigation have the Siskiyou County Sheriff's Office revisiting a 3-year-old case.

Patricia Joseph, 56, was reported missing from her Fort Jones, CA home on July 16, 2005. Two days after being reported missing Joseph's body was found in the Klamath River.

Detectives recently got results back from the state crime lab to strengthen their investigation. They say Joseph was forced from her home and died of blunt force trauma and suffocation.

"Nobody deserves to die the way she did. She died by herself and she died scared. And I'm hoping this touches somebody's heart and they come forward with the information we're going to need to finally close this case," says Detective Nathan Mendes.

Mendes says someone knows what happened that day and needs to come forward. He says people who were afraid to come forward before are also now sharing information, but Mendes says he can't comment on what that information is.

"Unfortunately, we haven't had a smoking gun, we haven't had somebody come forward and admit to this so it's very difficult, very tedious and extremely time consuming."

Anyone with information is urged to contact the Siskiyou County Sheriffs Office at (530) 842-8336 or the Siskiyou County Witness hotline at (530) 842-5564 or (530) 926-5564. Detectives say there is a reward available and the caller can remain anonymous.