Authorities have identified the remains of a teenager found just outside Camarillo in 1993, but are seeking help from the public for additional details.
The lower leg bones of Joseph Patrick Reardon, also known as Joe Gilbreth, were found during the cleanup of a dump site off Beardsley Road on Aug. 30, 1993, according to a Ventura County Sheriff’s Office news release.
Reardon would have been 23 years old at the time his bones were found, but the Ventura County Medical Examiner determined that his remains matched those of someone between 13 and 18 years old, the sheriff’s office said.
The case remained unsolved until March 2025, when the medical examiner and sheriff’s offices provided forensic evidence to Othram Labs for advanced DNA testing, sheriff’s officials said.
Using the forensic evidence, the lab built a comprehensive DNA profile for the remains and new leads to help with identification, officials said.
With the new leads and DNA samples tested with potential relatives, sheriff’s investigators were able to identify the remains as Reardon’s, the sheriff’s office said.
Investigators found that Reardon was born in Fresno County on June 17, 1970, and had been placed in a group home in Oxnard in 1985, said Guy Moody, an investigator with the sheriff’s office’s cold case unit.
The teenager was also enrolled for a partial semester at Channel Islands High School for his freshman year in 1985, Moody said. His remains were found in an area where people would illegally dump trash and were only discovered after the area was being cleared to build houses.
Investigators could not find references to Reardon ever being reported missing, and his cause of death was never determined, the sheriff’s investigator said.
The sheriff’s office is requesting that anyone who might have known Reardon call Moody at 805-383-8723.
Ernesto Centeno Araujo covers breaking news for the Ventura County Star. He can be reached at ecentenoaraujo@vcstar.com, 805-437-0224 or @ecentenoaraujo on Instagram and X.
This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Remains of teen found outside Camarillo in 1993 identified
Reporting by Ernesto Centeno Araujo, Ventura County Star / Ventura County Star
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