Body Found in Shallow Grave at Sonoma State ID'd as Missing Teen: Sheriff

SONOMA COUNTY, CA – Sheriff's deputies say the human remains found on the outskirts of the Sonoma State University campus in Rohnert Park Wednesday afternoon have been identified as Kirk Ryan Kimberly, a missing 18-year-old from Cotati.

"The pathologist was also able to determine the preliminary manner of death to be at the hands of another," the Sonoma County Sheriff's Office said, "therefore, we are now considering this to be a homicide investigation."

Kimberly's remains were found around 3 p.m. Wednesday, covered by dirt and debris roughly 200 yards west of parking lot "M." They were identified today using fingerprints.

Kimberly had been missing since Oct. 17, and his family has been notified, according to deputies.

The sheriff's office took over the investigation at the request of campus police and cordoned off the area overnight.

A pathologist from the county coroner's office, an investigator with the district attorney's office and violent crimes detectives spent hours unearthing the remains Thursday, Sgt. Spencer Crum said last night.

"There's no time restraint," Crum said.

The remains are "in the form of a body and are not just bones," Crum said.

They were still covered in dirt as of about 1:45 p.m., he said.

A landscaper found the remains while removing brush, Crum said. The landscaper first notified Sonoma State University police and the Rohnert Park Department of Public Safety.

Kimberly was last reported seen on 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.

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.

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 about Kimberly’s disappearance or death is asked to call Detective Horsman of the Sheriff’s Violent Crimes Unit at 707-565-2185.

• PREVIOUS: Body Found in Shallow Grave at Sonoma State Was Male: Sheriff

--Bay City News contributed to this report/Photos via Cotati PD, Al Francis of NapaSonomaPhotos