Mario Mendoza was 32 when he was last seen on the evening of Thursday, September 17, 1986, leaving George’s Bar in Brighton, Colorado, at about 6:45 p.m. He departed in a blue-over-white vehicle with three unidentified men; nothing further is known about what happened after that sighting.

Six days later, on September 23, 1986, Mendoza’s body was found floating in the Fulton Irrigation Ditch #2 near the intersection of Weld County roads 4 and 27, close to Brighton. An investigation determined he had been beaten to death. Authorities believe his body was first placed in a ditch in Adams County and later carried by the current to where it was recovered.

Mendoza sometimes worked as a laborer at Sakata Farms and reportedly supplied marijuana to other workers at the farm’s labor camp, but no clear motive has been established. The three men last seen with him remain unidentified and no suspects have been named; detectives classify the case as a cold case and have periodically renewed appeals for information.

If anyone knew Mario, the vehicle he left in, or the men he was with that night, can you help investigators by coming forward?