It’s a cold case that perplexed Ventura County Sheriff’s detectives for more than three decades. They finally have some answers, but are asking for the public's help to close the books on it.
On August 30, 1993, the partial remains of a person were found at a dump site outside of Camarillo, off of Beardsley Road.
The Ventura County Medical Examiner confirmed that some bones that were discovered were human. They concluded that they were the lower leg bones of a boy between 13 and 18 years old.
There wasn’t enough evidence to connect the bones to any missing persons cases at the time.
Detectives never gave up on the cold case, which became known as “Camarillo Teen 1993”. But, each time it was reviewed it would lead to a dead end.
In March of 2025, the Ventura County Medical Examiner’s office gave detectives forensic evidence for testing using the latest DNA technology.
"Part of his remains were sent to Othram Labs (Othram is a forensic laboratory which uses cutting-edge DNA technology to help detectives with cold cases), which developed a DNA profile for us," said Guy Moody, a Ventura County Sheriff’s Office cold case investigator. "Using genetic genealogy, we were able to take that lead and identify him and his family, which brought us to Fresno County. We're trying to fill in the blanks from the early 1980s to whatever happened to him."
Using the technology that created a comprehensive DNA profile for the remains, detectives conducted interviews and made calls to identify possible close relatives.
They say they’ve identified the teen as Joseph Patrick Reardon, also known as Joe Gilbreth. He was born in June of 1970, but his age when he died is still a question mark. It could have been more than four decades ago. He wasn’t living with family members when he was last seen alive.
"We know he was originally from Fresno County," said Moody. "It looks like he was placed in a group home here in Ventura County. In 1985, he was enrolled at Channel Islands High School as a freshman that spring semester. At that time, he was living in a group home in Oxnard, which is no longer a group home. At the end of April of 1985, he was dropped from Channel Islands High School."
Moody said they’re hoping people who knew him from his time in Ventura County in the 1980’s might be able to help. They stress that any detail, no matter how small, could be the key to bringing closure to the case.
"We're hoping someone who had gone to school with him for that short period of time remembers him and might have some information about him," said the investigator.
The case is complicated by the fact that more than four decades have passed, so there’s little in the way of records or documentation from the period.
"Relatives, friends, anyone who knew him, were having a hard time finding records from 40 years ago," said Moody. "A lot of the records don't exist anymore, so we're reaching out to the public. We want to talk to anyone who knew him or crossed paths with him. Maybe we can develop some more leads that way."
The cause of death is unknown, so it’s being treated as a potential homicide. The Ventura County Sheriff’s Office investigator said being able to ID the teen is a huge breakthrough, one they hope will lead to the resolution of the cold case.
"That's our goal (as cold case investigators), to try to find who they are, and what happened to them. If there is a homicide, (we want to) bring that family some closure, some justice, especially if we are able to identify the person responsible for it."
