Yuma, Arizona - A collaborative homicide investigation between the Yuma County Sheriff’s Office and the Imperial County Sheriff’s Office was completed with the arrest of Joseph Franklin Smith, 37 yoa, in the homicide of Stephanie Fedorka.

The investigation began in October of 2014, when Fedorka’s body was located in the lower Colorado River with a gunshot wound to the chest. After a four month long investigation, Investigators located the crime scene in Bard, California and key pieces of evidence to formally charge and arrest Joseph Franklin Smith of the homicide. Smith is currently in the Yuma County Jail and awaits extradition to Imperial County.