This Fresno County dairyman was killed 29 years ago on Valentine’s Day

FRESNO, Calif. (KGPE) – On Valentine’s Day 1996, Joe Camara was shot and killed while feeding cattle on Valentine Avenue at a Fresno County dairy. 

“It was early morning,” said Angela Camara. “My sister called me and she said something happened to Joe.” 

Back on that day, thick tule fog blanketed the Central Valley. 

“You know, in this area,” said Former Fresno County Sheriff Detective Chris Curtice. “When the fog comes down a lot of crooks go out and commit their crimes.” 

That day started as normal for Camara, he was at the Souza Dairy during work near the loader when a gunman shot him dead. 

“He was really good at his job,” Curtice said. “He knew what he was doing and he did this every morning.”

Judy Camara met the love of her life in October of 1989. 

“He was a cowboy and that was my kind of thing at that time,” Judy said. “He walked into the bar and that was that. ”

By Christmas, they were engaged, and in May of 1990, they were married. A few years later they had their son Adam. 

“He was very nervous at first, but he was a good father,” Judy said. “Once Adam was born, he would come in the house, and go straight to the bassinet.”

Camara lived a simple life, with his main priority, providing for them.

On that day in February 1996, he was scooping feed and taking it out to the cattle, when things took a turn. 

His killer shot him and left. 

“I believe he was shot only one time,” Curtice said. 

Camara’s co-workers found his lifeless body and called law enforcement. 

“He was laying next to a big loader that he was still running,” Curtice said. “This is probably one of the cases that is of regret for me that we never were able to arrest anybody.”

Curtice said that based on the crime scene, they believed the killer stood on pallets or some type of wood before firing through an opening.

“There was an opening in the wall right near where Joe had been working on the loader. And they stood on top here and actually aimed through the opening and fired once killing him,” said Curtice.

“Do you think that this was targeted at him?” asked CBS47’s Mederios Babb. 

“Well, it sure seems like it seemed like a hit, but we couldn’t find anything in his past or any of his family or anything that would lead us to believe that it was a hit,” Curtice said. “He was a very simple man with a very simple life.”

Angela was born only 18 months after her brother Joe. That gloomy day in February is one she will never forget.

“A part of me died when he died,” she said as she sobbed.

Judy was left to care for their three-year-old son Adam alone.

“I’m thinking, how am I going to tell this poor child that his daddy’s gone?” Judy said. “He remembers me sitting on the bed, on his grandma’s bed, and telling him that his daddy died and that daddy got hurt at work today.”

The senseless act of violence puzzles investigators.

Joe lived such a simple life and initially, the investigation focused on the family.  

Judy underwent a lie detector test.

“I understood and I was more than willing to do whatever I could, you know, so but it was a little unnerving to do the polygraph, to say the least,” Judy said. 

Once she was ruled out, it was back to the crime scene. 

There detectives looked for tracks, fingerprints and other clues.

“There was really nothing, nothing we could point to that would make our spidey senses go up if you will,” Curtice said. “And so then we started thinking outside, okay, could this have been a theft or a robbery gone wrong?”

During that time, theft was on the rise with several dairies targeted. 

“Just Ag, in general, is good all the outlying areas are good grounds for thefts for, like I say for these, these crooks that go out and steal fuel or to and that was a big thing,” said Curtice. 

“I know it’s been a long time, but from your recollection, does it seem like there was any hay or fuel that was taken on that day?” Babb said. 

“No, and I would think if there was a shooting as a result of a theft, it was probably that Joe interrupted something,” Curtice said. 

Did thieves target the suza dairy that Valentine’s Day? Did Camara witness a theft, and step in? Those were all theories at the time.

As the days went on, the leads dried up.

Judy reached out to the Governor’s office securing a $50,000 reward. 

“I can’t even fathom taking somebody’s life and. You know, they’re living their life, and my husband’s in the grave. I don’t know how people can live with themselves that way. I just don’t understand it,” Judy said. 

The reward is still available. 

“My hope is that if somebody was too afraid to talk back then they will come forward now,” Judy said.