Cotati mother talks about her slain son, found buried at Sonoma State UniversityCotati mother talks about her slain son, found buried at SSU
Jennifer Kimberly began to worry when her son, Kirk, 18, of Cotati, didn’t respond to text messages on Oct. 17. Phone calls went straight to voicemail, she said Tuesday, and he had not posted anything on social media.
When he still wasn’t home the next morning, she jumped in her car and began combing the city for him, stopping at friends’ houses and visiting old haunts. A day later, on ?Oct. 19, her husband, Kelly Kimberly, filed a missing persons’ report with Cotati police.
His mother said she wasted no time joining in. In addition to scouring the area, she pulled his phone records and called all the numbers on it, she said.
“I started searching for him everywhere,” his mother said. “I went everywhere every day I wasn’t working.”
The situation grew dire about two weeks later when a Sonoma State University landscaper found a body, later identified as Kirk’s, buried face down in a shallow grave, off in a secluded area of the campus near the Green Music Center. The person had been stabbed multiple times in a clear act of homicide, a sheriff’s official said.
Finally, her worst fears came true when, on Nov. 3, detectives identified the body as that of her missing son.
Two weeks after the discovery, her family is still seeking answers.
Despite an intense investigation, Sonoma County sheriff’s detectives have been unable to identify the killer of the 2016 Rancho Cotate High School graduate, who was last seen Oct. 17 when he rode off on his bicycle to visit a friend.
Authorities continue to believe Kimberly was targeted and that his slaying was not a random act.
“It’s a big empty hole in my heart,” his mother said. “He was an only child.”
Homicide detectives have worked steadily to try to unravel the mystery since the body was found, said Sgt. Spencer Crum, a sheriff’s spokesman.
People who knew Kimberly have been questioned, and evidence collected at the scene is being analyzed at the state Department of Justice crime lab, he said.
But so far, no arrests have been made, and detectives have yet to determine who is responsible. Neither his bike nor a wireless speaker he was believed to be carrying have turned up.
“We’re working on leads every day,” Crum said.
Kirk Ryan Kimberly was born in Santa Rosa in 1998. He grew up in Cotati and attended schools in nearby Rohnert Park. He practiced jiu jitsu and rode a white Cannondale mountain bike.
Kimberly had no known enemies and kept in touch with an ex-girlfriend, his mother said. Detectives do not believe he was involved in gangs, Crum said.
“He was so loved,” his mother said. “His friends are all in shock. Nobody gets it.”
Kimberly was about to start work at a Rohnert Park machine shop when he was last seen leaving his house to visit a friend in Rohnert Park.
His mother would not share the friend’s name because she isn’t sure her son actually visited the person.
“All I can say is he went to meet someone he trusted,” she said.
The family is devastated and baffled as to why someone would kill their son. His mother called the attack vicious.
“I think it took more than one person to take him down,” his mother said. “He’s a pretty strong kid.”
Meanwhile, detectives have reached out to the public for help solving the crime. They released photos of a mountain bike and wireless Bose speaker similar to items belonging to Kimberly and are working on getting a reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction.
“Somebody knows something,” his mother said. “The money won’t bring my son back but it will bring answers which I desperately need.”
You can reach Staff Writer Paul Payne at 707-568-5312 or paul.payne@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @ppayne.
Jennifer Kimberly began to worry when her son Kirk, 18, of Cotati, didn’t respond to text messages late on Oct. 17. Phone calls went straight to voice mail, she said Tuesday, and he had not posted anything on social media.
When he still wasn’t home the next morning, she jumped in her car and began combing the city for him, stopping at friends’ houses and visiting old haunts. A day later, on Oct. 19, her husband, Kelly Kimberly, filed a missing persons’ report with Cotati police.
His mother said she wasted no time joining in. In addition to scouring the area, she pulled his phone records and called all the numbers on it, she said.
“I started searching for him everywhere,” his mother said. “I went everywhere every day I wasn’t working.”
The situation grew dire about two weeks later when a Sonoma State University landscaper found a body, later identified as Kirk’s, buried face down in a shallow grave, off in a secluded area of the campus near the Green Music Center. The person had been stabbed multiple times in a clear act of homicide, a sheriff’s official said.
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