Contributed Photo Jonathan Peters, formerly of Eureka, Calif., is shown here in November 2005. Coos County investigators believe he was murdered and are asking the public for help solving the crime.

Coos County criminal investigators are asking for the public's assistance in the ongoing investigation into the murder of a Eureka, Calif., man who went missing last January.

According to a press release from Coos County Deputy District Attorney R. Paul Frasier, investigators need more information to proceed with the investigation into the murder of Jonathan Peters.

Peters, 27, had been living in Eureka, Calif., where he was looking for work and planning to attend a nearby college, according to investigators. Sometime in late January, he and a roommate, Brian Campbell, 26, came to Coos County to work for several days with Adam and Eve's Gardening, a landscaping company located in Isthmus Heights.

Investigators said Peters and Campbell arrived Jan. 25 in the 97000 block of Coos Sumner Lane, the home of the landscape company's owner, Matthew Osborn.

The following day, Peters, Osborn and Campbell carried out various landscaping jobs throughout the county, including two in Bandon, one in Coos Bay and another at a residence on Isthmus Heights Road. The three then returned to Osborn's home for dinner, according to investigators. Osborn had arranged for Peters and Campbell to stay at one of the yurts at Sunset Bay State Park that night.

On Friday, Jan. 27, Peters and Campbell returned to Osborn's home around 8 a.m. for more work. As Osborn got ready for work and Campbell made a telephone call, Peters stated that he needed to get out of the house.

He left the house and was never seen alive again.

About 15 minutes after Peters went out the door, Campbell and Osborn left the house but could not find Peters. A search by the county's search and rescue team turned up nothing.

About six months later, on July 20, a team examining the route of a proposed pipeline found the remains of a human body in heavy brush near a transmission power line located off Coos Sumner Lane - about a half-mile from Osborn's home. The remains were identified as being the body of Peters.

At the time he disappeared, Peters was approximately 6 feet 2 inches tall and weighed between 170 to 180 pounds. His head may have been shaved. He had several tattoos on his arm and had a pierced lip.

Anyone who believes they saw Peters between Jan. 25-27 at any location in Coos County, or who believes they have any information regarding his death is urged to contact Det. Jeff Grant at the Coos County Sheriff's Office at 396-3121, ext. 381.