Leads Sought As 1-Year Mark Nears In East Bay Woman's Murder

CONTRA COSTA COUNTY, CA – As detectives from the Contra Costa County Sheriff's Office continue to investigate the 2017 murder of Danville resident Emily Courchesne, the one-year anniversary of her death looms with the case unsolved and a $10,000 reward offered for information leading to an arrest and conviction of her killer.

Deputies were called Friday, Oct. 6, 2017, at about 10 a.m. to a “medical” call at a residence on the 24000 block of Marsh Creek Road in the unincorporated area of Byron where they found Courchesne, 37, shot to death inside the farmhouse where she was house-sitting for her uncle, officials said.

Detectives deemed the case a homicide, estimating the victim was killed sometime between Wednesday evening and Thursday early morning at the property, deputies said.

A $10,000 reward is offered by the Courchesne family for any information leading to the arrest and conviction of the suspect or suspects involved in her death, according to the department.

"I don't know any more now than the day it happened," Emily's mother, Marj Courchesne, said during an interview Thursday afternoon.

The sheriff's office may have more information but they aren't sharing it with her, she said. She describes Emily as a talented, generous and funny woman with a degree in physics, who liked to help her nephew with his homework and had helped friends get back into college. At the time of her killing she was working for a structural drafting company in Orinda.

"It's hard to get over this when you don't know what happened," Marj said. "It's just this huge open wound with question marks all around it."

When asked what it would mean for the family to find out why Emily was killed, the first thing that came to mind was closure. But it would also get the killer off the streets, Marj said.

"Maybe someone wasn't willing to come forth last year and they've had a change of heart," Marj said. "We do think somebody knows something."

Emily was never in any trouble, according to Marj. It's still a mystery why anyone would harm her.

"Please come forward," Marj said. "The family misses her horribly."

Anyone with any information on the case can contact the Sheriff's Investigation Division at (925) 313-2600 or call the anonymous tip lines at (925) 313-1166 or (866) 846-3592. Tips can also be emailed to: tips@so.cccounty.us.

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--Bay City News contributed to this report/Image via Contra Costa Sheriff's Office