Editor’s Note: This story is a part of an ongoing Columbia Basin Herald project regarding unsolved murders in the Columbia Basin. If you have a case you feel we should look into, please reach out to Managing Editor Richard Byrd at 509-765-4561 or via email at rbyrd@columbiabasinherald.com

MOSES LAKE — To his family, Joe George Reyna Jr. was the life of the party. His sister, Priscilla Reyna, remembers him as a goofball, a guy who would make fun of himself and daily life with a laugh that sounded like a dolphin.

To Priscilla’s children, who did not have a dad in their lives, Joe was a father figure. He and Priscilla’s daughter Amissa would compete during the summer for the deepest tan, buying the winner a prize, and she remembers how they would often take walks together.

Joe would have been 34 this July. He was 31 when he was killed.

Joe was found May 9, 2017 in a dry irrigation ditch that runs parallel to Road H Northeast, a little north of Road 10, dead from multiple gunshot wounds to the chest. By the time he was found by a laborer who was working nearby, he had been missing for 11 days.

Joe was last seen April 29, 2017 near Paxson Drive and North Grape Drive, according to law enforcement. His family had dropped him off at the College Apartments that day, located just north of state Route 17, but some of his belongings have since been recovered near Paxson Drive, Priscilla said.

Though Joe’s whereabouts between where he was last seen and where he was found deceased have not been fully established, he had been in the ditch a number of days before he was found, law enforcement said.

Though detectives assigned to the case have followed many leads, there hasn’t been sufficient evidence for law enforcement to file charges, said Kyle Foreman, a spokesman for the Grant County Sheriff’s Office. However, though police don’t currently have any actionable evidence, that doesn’t mean the case is closed, Foreman continued.

“We consider all cases to be open until they’re closed, and the only way they’re closed is if a suspect is in custody or if we determine that the person responsible has passed away,” Foreman said.

Though Joe’s killer has not yet been brought to justice, his family continues to honor his memory each year during the anniversary of his death. A little over a month ago, the family gathered to commiserate for the second time, coming together to release balloons into the sky.

Anyone with information regarding Reyna’s death is asked to call the sheriff 509-762-1160 or sending email to crimetips@grantcountywa.gov. Reference case number 17GS04640. Tipsters can remain anonymous.

Emry Dinman can be reached via email at edinman@columbiabasinherald.com.