Feb. 9 will mark the 10th anniversary of the death of Judith Lynn Petty. Petty’s remains were found in a burned out barn on a farm her father Marvin Petty owned off West Virginia 31.

PARKERSBURG — This month marks the 10-year anniversary of the unsolved murder of Judith Lynn Petty.

Her body was recovered Feb. 9, 2008, in a burned out building off West Virginia 31 in Waverly on a farm owned by her father, Marvin Petty. Petty’s family reported her missing a few days earlier on Feb. 6.

The family keeps its hopes up, that the perpetrators will be brought to justice to answer for the crime on its 10th anniversary, said Kelly Poiani, Petty’s sister. But then the anniversary comes and the sadness returns for herself and parents, who also live to see the killers brought to justice.

“For every year that goes by, it’s another downer,” Poiani said.

Petty, 48, was last seen alive on Feb. 6, 2008, while walking from her home in north Parkersburg to the Parkersburg/Wood County Public Library. She was returning books at the library and was seen near 36th Street and Emerson Avenue.

To worsen matters, her remains were mixed up at the medical examiner’s office in Charleston where autopsies also were performed on two young children killed in a house fire in Jackson County about a week after the fire where Petty was found.

Poiani prays guilt overtakes the person or people involved and they turn themselves in to ease their conscience.

“I hope he gets a conscience this year to bring peace to himself and peace to his family,” Poiani said. “Judy should never have died this way.”

Poiani stays in regular contact with the Wood County Sheriff’s Department, the agency which investigated the murder. A Facebook was established, too, Justice for Judith Lynn Petty.

It’s a case Sheriff Steve Stephens hopes to someday solve.

Stephens cited an advantage departments in Ohio have over departments in West Virginia. In Washington County, the sheriff’s department has two cold case officers, Bruce Shuck and Jeff Seevers, but retired officers can’t be similarly deputized in West Virginia, Stephens said.

“It makes a big difference,” he said.

Anyone with information about the Petty case is encouraged to call the department, Stephens said. The phone number is 304 424-1834.

“If there’s a lead, we’ll follow up on it,” he said.

Which is why Poiani keeps the story in the public eye every year around this time.

Someone may know something that triggers another recollection or helps investigators connect the dots and the evidence to lead them to the persons responsible, Poiani said. No bit of information is too small or insignificant, she said.

“It could mean the world,” Poiani said.