Lyons County detectives seeking help to solve 23-year-old cold case

The Lyon County Sheriff’s Department is asking the public to help solve a 23-year-old cold case.

Detectives have recently reopened the homicide case of human skeletal remains, with no hands or feet, that were found in Sand Canyon on March 12, 1992.

The victim, who detectives believed was stabbed to death and dumped in the canyon, has remained unidentified to this day. However, with modern technologies, such as advances in DNA testing and social media detectives believe they are close to identifying the victim. They have been utilizing sites such as Facebook and websleuths.com to monitor for information. The detectives have also been working with the Nevada Division of Investigations.

“In the last few months, we have made a lot of progress,” Det. Lt. Jerry Pattison said. “We are closer than we have ever been.”

Detectives are just waiting on confirmation from DNA to identify the victim before continuing the investigation, but they are reaching out to the public to see if anyone has any information on the case.

“Anyone with information regarding the case, we would love to hear,” Pattison said. “It is tough because we don’t have a lot to say. He was killed in the middle of the desert so we don’t have a lot to give to the public, but the scope of our investigation will change once we have identified the victim.”

Previously, the detectives were asking the public to help identify a part of a logo on a T-shirt, and as of Monday night, they were able to find where the image came from.

Anyone with information on the case is encouraged to contact Detective Barwig at 775-577-5206, Detective Marty at 775-684-7439, or Secret Witness at 775-322-4900.

Follow reporter Taylor Pettaway on Twitter at @TaylorNVAppeal.