A preliminary hearing date is expected to be selected after his not guilty plea in Oroville.
OROVILLE, Calif. — Joseph Dexter Taylor, 52, was ordered held without bail after pleading not guilty to a murder charge in Butte County, where prosecutors say burned remains found on his property are tied to the killing of Chris Kidwell.
The court step matters because it marked the moment the case moved from investigation to prosecution. Taylor appeared in Butte County Superior Court on March 26. Prosecutors said the evidence indicates Kidwell, 33, was shot before his body was burned on Taylor’s rural property east of Oroville. Taylor denied the charge, and the next hearing was set for April 2 to choose a date for a preliminary hearing, where the prosecution will begin laying out more of its case.
The murder count was filed after a short but intense sequence of events. On March 21, two people called 911 after reporting they found what they believed to be a human skull and other skeletal remains on Taylor’s property on Ricky Road in the Hurleton area. Prosecutors said those witnesses had already encountered Taylor in the early hours of March 20, when he arrived at their home appearing agitated and talking about a cremation. They also told investigators he had burn marks on his legs. Authorities did not publicly say whether those two witnesses were neighbors, acquaintances or visitors, but their statements became central to the timeline presented when charges were announced.
Once Taylor reached court, the state’s public account took on a more formal shape. District Attorney Mike Ramsey said investigators strongly believe the victim is Kidwell, a 33-year-old man who had been living on Taylor’s property since late last year. Ramsey also said confirmation of identity was still forthcoming, a reminder that prosecutors sometimes file serious charges before every forensic detail is complete if they believe the evidence already supports arrest and detention. The same release said Kidwell’s family contacted the sheriff’s office on March 20 after about a week without contact. In court terms, that detail helps place the disappearance on the timeline even before the remains were reported.
Taylor’s custody status signals how seriously the court is treating the case at this early stage. Prosecutors said he was remanded to the Butte County Jail on a no-bail hold because of the severity of the allegation and pending arson cases in Lake County. They also said he was facing a separate firearm case. Reporting on the case described additional charges that included being a felon in possession of a firearm, carrying a concealed weapon and arson-related counts. Those outside matters do not prove the murder charge, but they can shape the court’s assessment of public safety risk, flight risk and the need to keep a defendant in custody while the homicide case develops.
The next important legal question is what becomes public at the preliminary hearing stage. That proceeding is often where investigators describe search warrants, witness interviews, forensic findings and timelines in more detail than appears in an arrest announcement. At this point, prosecutors have not publicly detailed the precise cause of death beyond saying the victim was shot before the body was burned. They also have not said when Kidwell died, what firearm was involved, whether any surveillance or phone records were collected, or whether Taylor made any statement after his arrest. Those unknowns could become central as the case moves through court.
Even with the courtroom now at the center of the story, the human details from the investigation still frame how the allegations are being understood. A witness account about talk of a cremation, visible burn marks and a discovery on a rural property gave the charging document its stark outline. Ramsey’s statement that the evidence “strongly suggests” the victim is Kidwell adds another layer of caution that is common in homicide prosecutions before all lab work is final. For Kidwell’s family, the process now turns from trying to locate him to watching the state attempt to prove who killed him and how.
The case remains in its opening stage, with Taylor denying the murder charge and staying in jail without bail. The next milestone is April 2, when the court is expected to set the preliminary hearing date that will shape the pace of the prosecution.
Author note: Last updated 2026-04-18.