Authorities say Cris Jones used Daniel Joslin’s name and truck after Joslin’s remains were found behind their California home.

YUCCA VALLEY, Calif. — An Oregon deputy’s routine contact with a camper who said he was Daniel Joslin became a crucial turn in a California homicide investigation after records showed Joslin was missing and authorities later identified the man as Joslin’s roommate, Cris Jones.

The encounter near Harriet Lake in Mt. Hood National Forest connected two scenes hundreds of miles apart: a remote Oregon campsite and the Yucca Valley home where investigators had found Joslin’s remains in a shallow backyard grave. San Bernardino County authorities have accused Jones, 60, of killing 61-year-old Joslin. Jones was arrested Aug. 2 in Oregon and was being held for extradition to California, according to the agencies involved. Publicly released information has not established a motive, a cause of death or whether a knife seized from Jones is tied to the killing.

The case began weeks before the Oregon contact, when Joslin’s relatives and friends reported that they could not reach him. Morongo Basin deputies responded to a missing-person report at about 7:31 p.m. July 3. Authorities said Joslin had not been seen or contacted by family or friends for about 10 days, and his last known contact with them was June 26. Investigators received information suggesting Joslin may have planned to travel to Oregon, but the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department later said it found no evidence confirming that he had made that trip.

That unverified Oregon lead eventually gave way to a search centered on Joslin’s residence in the 58000 block of Carlyle Drive in Yucca Valley, a desert community in San Bernardino County. Joslin shared the home with Jones, according to the sheriff’s department. On July 29, Morongo Station detectives obtained a search warrant for the property based on information developed during the investigation. While searching the yard, investigators found human remains in what officials described as a shallow grave behind the residence.

The discovery changed the missing-person case into a homicide investigation. Detectives from the sheriff’s Specialized Investigations Division, Homicide Detail, took over the case, working with the Coroner’s Division and crime-scene specialists. The coroner later identified the remains as Joslin. Authorities named Jones as the suspect and obtained an arrest warrant. The department has not publicly detailed what evidence, beyond the discovery and subsequent investigation, led detectives to identify Jones as the person suspected of killing his roommate.

The day after the backyard search, an Oregon deputy patrolling near Harriet Lake encountered a man at a campsite who identified himself as Daniel Joslin, according to the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office. The man also said he owned a black Ford F-150 pickup truck nearby. When the deputy checked the truck, its registration and license plate matched the name the camper had provided. A records check, however, also showed that Daniel Joslin had recently been reported missing in California.

That contradiction brought the Oregon deputy into contact with the California homicide investigation. Clackamas County officials said deputies learned that San Bernardino County authorities were investigating Joslin’s death and that the man they had encountered might actually be Jones. The two agencies worked to establish the camper’s identity. Authorities said the man was Cris Jones and that he had been using Joslin’s identity while driving Joslin’s pickup truck. Officials have not publicly explained how long Jones allegedly used Joslin’s name or whether he used it anywhere other than during the Oregon contact.

Jones was not arrested during that initial campsite encounter. On Aug. 2, the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office Air Unit located him in the forest and guided SWAT deputies to his location. Officials said Jones followed commands and was taken into custody without incident. Deputies reported recovering a knife and sheath from the front pocket of his pants and seized the items as evidence. Neither the Oregon nor California agency has publicly said that the knife was the weapon used to kill Joslin, and no released account reviewed for this story states how Joslin died.

The arrest ended the immediate search for Jones but left central questions unanswered. Investigators have not announced a suspected motive, described an alleged confrontation between the two roommates or released a detailed timeline for Joslin’s death. The sheriff’s department has also not publicly said when it believes Joslin was killed. The available chronology establishes that Joslin last contacted family and friends June 26, was reported missing July 3 and was found dead July 29, leaving the exact circumstances inside that period undisclosed.

The sequence underscores why the timeline matters to investigators. The initial missing-person report did not begin with a confirmed crime scene. Deputies were trying to determine where Joslin had gone and whether the information about possible travel to Oregon could be verified. Only after detectives obtained the July 29 warrant and searched the Carlyle Drive property did authorities publicly describe the matter as a murder investigation. That distinction is important because the later Oregon contact occurred after human remains had been found and after California detectives had begun treating Jones as a suspect rather than simply as the missing man’s roommate.

The agencies have released few details about the forensic work at the Yucca Valley property. The sheriff’s department said homicide detectives, coroner personnel and crime-scene specialists searched the yard and removed Joslin’s remains, but it has not published autopsy findings, an estimated date of death or a description of injuries. It also has not disclosed what investigators expected to find when they sought the search warrant. Those omissions leave the public record focused on the broad investigative milestones rather than the evidence that would eventually be tested in court.

The cross-state sequence also makes the alleged identity use a major part of the case even though authorities have not said whether it will result in a separate criminal charge. The Oregon deputy’s records check did not merely reveal that the name given belonged to a missing person. It also connected a vehicle registered to Joslin with a man California investigators were seeking in a homicide case. That link provided officers with a way to move from a missing-person record to a suspect’s location in a remote part of Oregon.

Public reports have described Jones as charged with murder, while the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department’s Aug. 4 notice said he was being held for Joslin’s murder pending extradition. The public material reviewed for this story does not provide a later court disposition or a final determination of guilt. A murder accusation is a criminal allegation, and prosecutors would have to prove the charge in court. The sheriff’s department has said the homicide investigation remains open.

For Joslin’s family and friends, the case had already moved through several distinct stages by the time Jones was arrested: days without contact, a missing-person report, an unconfirmed possibility that Joslin had gone to Oregon, a search of his shared home and the identification of remains found in the backyard. The Oregon encounter then produced a second, unexpected connection to Joslin, this time through his name and truck.

Jones’s arrest brought the interstate search to an end, but it did not resolve the criminal case. San Bernardino County authorities said he was being held in Oregon for extradition in connection with Joslin’s killing. The publicly available record reviewed for this story does not show a later plea, trial or final court ruling, and the murder accusation remains to be tested through the judicial process.

Author note: Last updated September 21, 2026.