MOHAVE COUNTY, AZ – In September 2016, a San Bernardino, California teen, Kimberly Rena Jones, was reported missing. On September 28, 2016, the decomposing body of a young female was located in a ravine in the While Hills area off of N. Highway 93 in Mohave County, Arizona.
According to the Mohave County Sheriff’s Office, due to the decomposition of the body an immediate identification could not be made and a cause of death could not be determined. A composite sketch was completed and shared on social media with no response. Nationwide Missing Person files were compared with the characteristics of the deceased, however nothing matched at the time.
In February 2020, the investigation was assigned to the Mohave County Sheriff’s Office Special Investigations Unit (SIU). SIU was developed to focus on the investigation of Cold Cases within the Mohave County Sheriff’s Office. The unit pursued identification of the victim and identified a viable technique utilizing the victim’s DNA. This new DNA technique required a different sample than what was initially collected. In October 2020, the remains were exhumed and a sufficient DNA sample was obtained. The DNA extraction was sent to an outside laboratory and a full genome of the victim was developed. This sample was used to identify potential relatives of the victim through her genealogy.
In early July 2021, the deceased was positively identified as the eighteen-year-old Kimberly.