Reward Established By Family, Friends Of Murdered North Bay Teen Found Buried At Sonoma State

SONOMA COUNTY, CA – Friends and family of Kirk Kimberly, an 18-year-old from Cotati found Nov. 2 buried on the grounds of Sonoma State University, have raised a $4,ooo reward for any information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for his murder.

Contributions are being added through a fundraising effort, the Kirk Kimberly Reward Fund, and, to date, the total stands at $4,340.

"Our beloved 18 year old son, Kirk Ryan Kimberly, was brutally murdered and buried face down in a shallow grave near Sonoma State University on or about October 17th, 2016," the fund's page states. "The person or persons responsible for this heinous crime are still on the loose."

"Please contribute what you can help build a sizable reward fund. The reward will be given to anyone that provides law enforcement with information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the murderer or murderers," the site continues. "We will never be able to hear Kirk laugh or see his beaming smile again, but the solace of knowing that the guilty person(s) is off the street and can't harm anyone else will be comforting."

The Sonoma County Alliance is also offering a separate reward of up to $2,500 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Kimberly's killer or killers.

Kimberly was last reported seen Oct. 17 when he left Cotati on a white bicycle to meet a friend in Rohnert Park, Cotati police said. He did not return home and stopped communication with friends and family, police said.

His body was found on the Rohnert Park college campus by a landscaper, covered by dirt and debris roughly 200 yards west of parking lot "M," and was identified using fingerprints. Sonoma County sheriff's officials said the missing teen was stabbed multiple times.

At the time, he was described as 5 feet, 10 inches tall, 140 pounds with blond hair and blue eyes and wearing a white T-shirt, vest, shorts, tennis shoes and a gold chain.

Detectives are looking for a Bose Soundlink III speaker box that the teen had in his backpack when he went missing and for the white bicycle he was riding when he was last reported seen.

On his Facebook page, Kimberly posted he was a 2016 graduate of Rancho Cotate High School in Rohnert Park and had previously attended Pathways Charter School, an independent-study program, also in Rohnert Park.

Anyone with information on Kimberly's death, is asked to call Sheriff's Investigations at 707-565-2185.

• ALSO SEE: Missing Petaluma Boy, 13, Found Safe In Sebastopol [UPDATE]

Previous coverage:

• Detectives Seeking Another Clue In Cotati Teen's Murder: A Missing Bose Speaker
• Hunt On For Murdered Cotati Teen's White Bicycle
• Missing Cotati Teen Found Dead In Shallow Grave At Sonoma State Was Stabbed: Sheriff
• Body Found in Shallow Grave at Sonoma State ID'd as Missing Teen: Sheriff
• Body Found in Shallow Grave at Sonoma State Was Male: Sheriff

--Images via Cotati police, Al Francis of NapaSonomaPhotos/BCN contributed to this report