By Anahita Jafary

    AMADOR COUNTY, California (KCRA) -- It has been decades since the murder of Dennis Palmer—a cold case that leaves some still searching for answers.

This includes Palmer's parents, who are now in their 90s. They say all they want is justice.

The cold case still shakes the people of Amador County nearly 40 years later.

Dennis Palmer, frozen in time at 33 years old, is remembered through his friends and family.

Steve Von Loehr was Dennis' best friend and describes their relationship as a brotherhood.

“If you had kids, he never forgot a birthday for the kids. He always brought them stuff," Von Loehr said.

His mom, Nancy Palmer, said now all she has are memories.

“He'd call me up to tell me and joke, and I'd be at work and I'd tell him, I'm at work, you can't do this, but he would share his jokes with me," Mrs. Palmer said.

Lynn Silva was Dennis's high school prom date and longtime friend. She remembers him fondly.

“I went to my junior and senior prom with Dennis. It's like one of those crushes that you had a long time ago," Silva said.

Von Loehr said the last time he saw Dennis was the day he went missing.

"At my shop in Sutter Creek, he came over, walked out, and that was the last time I saw him," Von Loehr said.

That was Aug. 3, 1987. Dennis was living at home with his girlfriend. According to his family, when she left for work, Dennis mentioned he might visit his parents in Alpine County later in the day.

"He didn't come home and, of course, all of us started just thinking about it, and as time went on, days went on, it just became more intense and then we realized something wasn't right." Von Loehr said.

The search was on for weeks with dozens of people looking for Dennis.

“He had a lot of friends when he was declared missing. All of them got together and made a hike all the way from Jackson to Nevada line," Mrs. Palmer said.

“We searched all the way up highway 88 all the way to there," Von Loehr said.

But he was closer than they thought.

Von Loehr said he had bad feelings that turned out to be true. He said once they started searching more around the house, they found his body.

It was closer than they thought, hidden completely out of sight. A truth that no one could have imagined.

"[We] found hair on the fence and found some flesh that they have the DNA from, and that led us to realize that he was close somewhere, and he was put in a mineshaft and buried," Von Loehr said. “To this day, it bothers me a lot. It changed my life. I'm 73 years old and I have spent over half of my life behind on this."

Decades later, many still continue fighting for answers, partly for themselves, but mainly for his parents, in their 90s. Getting them closure is all that matters now.

Nancy Palmer said she hopes no one has to go through the loss of a child, let alone what they experienced.

So, what really did happen to Dennis Palmer?

Citizens Against Homicide (CAH), a nonprofit organization supporting victims loved ones and advocating for families seeking criminal justice, looked into the case to try and help.

Shellie Cervantes a victim advocate with CAH said, “Every day they wake up thinking about Dennis every night when they go to sleep, before they go to sleep, they're thinking of Dennis and there are murderers walking free. So, we're helping keep this story alive.”

Her husband, Gene Cervantes, is also a victim advocate with the organization.

“Somebody knows who did it, and we're just hoping that they come forward," Cervantes said.

A billboard was put up with a reward of $100,000, partially from the family and the other half from a program through Gov. Gavin Newsom's office. Law enforcement agencies can request rewards for information in unsolved crimes.

Governor Newsom has implemented a program where law enforcement agencies can request rewards for information in unsolved crimes.

“One suspect was in possession of the victim's pickup, but the Amador County Sheriff's Office says they need further information to make any arrests," Mrs. Cervantes said.

Mrs. Palmer said no one was ever arrested for her son's murder, not even accused, despite a trail of evidence that family and friends say is more than enough.

The family said even turning to the Amador County Sheriff's Office seemed hopeless.

In broken moments, they did everything they could think of, but their best still wasn't enough.

"From day one, I've talked to every sheriff in Amador County about this case multiple times in their office. The current sheriff, about a year and a half ago, I called over there 11 times. [...] I have yet to hear from the sheriff. Either they don't want to talk to me, or he's not getting the message from this person I'm talking to," Von Loehr said.

Friends and family of Dennis said they got the same response any time they spoke with the sheriff's office: "There is not enough evidence."

Seeking out justice, Mrs. Palmer said, seemed impossible

"Do a little more than they've done in the past? Put someone on the try to find the evidence, find out what happened and why everything went from bad, but they won't the sheriff won't do anything," Mrs. Palmer said.

KCRA 3 reached out to Amador County Sheriff Gary Redman for an interview. Sheriff Redman said he is not available and has nothing to talk about.

"There is no one left at this office that was involved in the case. I'm preparing all of the case documents to be sent to the Sacramento DA's cold case division for a review," Redman said.

We checked in on that for more than a month and have not heard back on a timeline.

For now, Mrs. Palmer continues to keep her son's story alive. Every Aug. 3 on the anniversary of his death, she sends in a poem to the local paper, some that she has written and others that she finds. She has a book filled with dozens of news articles she has collected over the years involving Dennis' case. The other book is filled with cutouts of the poems.

Mrs. Palmer said there is a purpose behind the homemade clipping files and that hopefully someone someday will use it as evidence to help solve the case.

Anyone with information about the death of Dennis Palmer is encouraged to contact the Amador County Sheriff's Office and the Citizens Against Homicide Organization.

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