The Hamilton County District Attorney's Office cold case unit is reopening a nearly 20-year-old case, and this time, they're bringing in the FBI.
Dec. 9, 2000, was a Saturday. Crystal Walden, who was 17 at the time, called police to report her 10-year-old brother, Joshua Lee Walden, as missing from their 14th Avenue home.
Joshua was last seen day before riding his red bicycle near his home, according to Times Free Press archives. Friends, neighbors and police searched the neighborhood but found no sign of him.
His body was found that Sunday in a wooded area near the 3100 block of 16th Avenue, about a half mile from his home. His body was doused with muriatic acid.
An autopsy showed the boy died from asphyxiation, and his bicycle was never recovered.
In about 2004, investigators asked for the public's help in finding the boy's killer. At the time, the FBI offered a possible profile and even suggested that law enforcement probably already had contact with the offender over the course of the investigation.
But years later, Joshua's killer has still not been found.
Now, the District Attorney's cold case unit is again asking the public for help and will be working with a team of FBI agents who produced a series of videos they hope will help us solve this case.
"That's all I need is just closure," Crystal Walden says in one a video released Wednesday. "If it was an accident, I mean, it was an accident. They didn't mean to do it. They didn't mean to hurt 'em. They panicked and, you know, people panic in different ways and handle things in different ways. I just need to know."
Anyone who has information about this case is urged to call the DA's Cold Case Unit at 423-209-7470 or to send an email to coldcases@hcdatn.org.