Families: Hardest part is not knowing

When the first heavy rain fell on the Northern San Joaquin Valley in the past several years, a frightful, helpless pain sunk Donna Raley into a depression.

Her stepdaughter, 36-year-old Dena Raley-McCluskey of Modesto, had been missing since Oct. 10, 1999, and her family feared the worst.

"You know your child is out there buried in some type of dirt grave," Raley said about those stormy days during her stepdaughter's disappearance. "All you can think about is the dirt getting into her nose, her mouth; all that mud."

Raley-McCluskey's family got some relief last week when Modesto police said they believed they had found the body of Raley-McCluskey in a shallow grave and had arrested a suspect.

But Donna Raley's anguish is an example of what families experience when loved ones disappear and those responsible remain unidentified and unpunished.

The family endured additional pain with the death of Raley-McCluskey's father, Bill Raley, last year. His health faded as the years passed and his daughter never returned.

"It makes it really hard, and you cry a lot," said Raley, who raised Dena as her own daughter. "And there's nothing you can do about it."

On Wednesday, Modesto police investigators found human remains buried near Groveland in Tuolumne County. While the human remains haven't been positively identified, a police spokesman said investigators are confident the body is that of Raley-McCluskey.

Detectives on Thursday arrested Russell Jones, 47, of Modesto on suspicion of murder. Jones was being held at Stanislaus County Jail without bail. He is expected to appear in court this afternoon for an arraignment hearing.

During her stepdaughter's disappearance, Raley said her family members had three goals that sustained them:

• Find Dena and bring her home.
• Give Dena a Christian burial.
• Seek justice for the murder.

Raley said she believes Jones did not work alone and that there are others responsible for her daughter's death.

The ultimate goal is achieving justice for victimized families, Raley said. There is no such thing as closure, she said, and the grief never ends.

Modesto Police Chief Roy Wasden said the department decided to dedicate some full-time resources to investigate unsolved cold cases and created the Cold Case Squad in March.

Cold case investigators worked Raley-McCluskey's case.

"We figured there's got to be a way to help more families find resolution," Wasden said. "We're so sorry for what they're going through. We haven't given up. These cases won't be forgotten or ignored."

Detective Craig Grogan and a missing persons investigator are assigned to work more than 40 unsolved major crimes cases.

But it's more than just a two-person team, Wasden said. Grogan works on the cold cases with other detectives in the department such as investigators in the Economics Crimes Unit or the Special Victims Unit.

They sit in round-table discussions, examining and re-examining a case file with fresh eyes and new talents to move the case forward, Wasden said.

New technology helps cold case detectives discover leads such as pulling DNA evidence from a fingerprint collected years before or searching prison inmate databases for a tattoo, Wasden said.

Sgt. Scott Heller supervises the Crimes Against Persons Unit, which includes the Cold Case Squad. He said time can be a cold case detective's enemy as witnesses may die, move away or their memories fade over the years.

Heller also said time can be a cold case detective's ally when witnesses who initially refused to come forward change their minds.