Detectives find vehicle, presumed body of Northern California man missing since June
Detectives on Wednesday located the vehicle and presumed body of a Northern California man who had been missing for more than two months, finding a crashed pickup truck at the bottom of a steep embankment along a Yuba County ravine.
Joseph Kearns, a 58-year-old Brownsville resident, had not been seen or heard from since June 18 and was reported missing along with his gray 2004 Ford Ranger on July 6, the Yuba County Sheriff’s Office said.
Deputies with the Sheriff’s Office’s investigations unit conducted a foot search Wednesday morning along Willow Glen Road in Brownsville, where they located an overturned pickup in “dense foliage.”
“The vehicle was not visible by either the roadway or the air, and was located by detectives while on foot checking a ravine,” the Sheriff’s Office wrote.
The California Highway Patrol also responded to conduct a crash investigation. The CHP’s Yuba-Sutter office in a separate news release identified the vehicle as a gray 2004 Ford Ranger and described the deceased occupant as a 58-year-old Brownsville man.
Deputies located the Ford about 20 feet below the roadway, along Willow Glen Road south of Pine Ridge Road, according to the CHP release.
The deceased victim has not been formally identified by coroner’s officials, the Sheriff’s Office said, but family members of Kearns were notified of the discovery.
Kearns, a resident of Yuba County who also frequented Benicia, had been reported missing to the Benicia Police Department.
