PARKERSBURG — The family of a woman in an unsolved murder from 12 years ago continues to implore anyone with any information to contact investigators.

Kelly Poiani remains hopeful someone can remember something or has the information to tie the killers to the murder of her sister, Judith Lynn Petty, whose remains were found Feb. 10, 2008, in a building that had caught fire on a family farm in Wood County.

“I pray every day,” Poiani said.

Petty, who was 48 at the time of her death, was last seen alive four days before her body was found, walking from her home in north Parkersburg to the Parkersburg-Wood County Public Library. Petty was returning books to the library.

She was seen in area of 36th Street and Emerson Avenue near the library. The family reported her missing on Feb. 6.

The body was found in a building on a farm on West Virginia 31 in Waverly that is owned by her father, Marvin Petty. The building was destroyed by a fire; however, investigators believe she may have been killed before the building caught fire.

The passing years have not made things easier for the family, Poiani said. The parents are in their 80s.

The family receives information, but the tips have to go to law enforcement, which can be left on the sheriff’s department tip line, she said. Otherwise it’s hearsay, second-hand information, Poiani said.

No new tips have been forthcoming for the department to investigate, according to Bob Sims, chief law enforcement deputy in the Wood County Sheiff’s Department.

Poiani, who is appreciative of the work investigators have done, would like to see detectives assigned to investigate cold cases, like what has been done in Washington County. Sims would like to do the same for unsolved cases, but there’s issues in West Virginia where a retired officer receiving retirement also being paid by the department, he said.

The Petty family suspects two people were involved in the murder, but there’s no hard evidence connecting them, Poiani said.

That’s the reason each year she discusses the case on the anniversary of her sister’s death.

Poiani has contacted the VIDOCQ Society, which was created in 1990 in Philadelphia to help local law enforcement officers to solve unsolved murders. It gets involved upon a request from agencies.

The society is comprised of volunteers who are experts in forensics, profilers, criminologists, forensic scientists, medical examiners, law enforcement officers and prosecutors and polygraph examiners. It does not conduct independent investigations or works with the family or friends of the victim.