Son of Creedence Clearwater Revival drummer charged with murder of girlfriend, suspect in second murder

The son of former Creedence Clearwater Revival drummer Doug Clifford faces murder charges after his girlfriend's remains were found near a Nevada highway on Thursday.

Brent Clifford is also of interest in connection with another murder that occurred 26 miles away.

Clifford, 55, was booked into the South Placer County Jail in the early hours of Thursday morning and denied bail.

The Placer County Sheriff's Office said officers found what they believe are the remains of 48-year-old Patricia Portella-Wright on an embankment off Mount Rose Highway.

Her remains were first discovered by a drone. A final court decision is pending. Brent Clifford has been charged with murder.

According to police, Portella-Wright was last seen with Clifford on Aug. 4 and was reported missing five days later. “Obviously this is a crime,” Placer County Lt. Dave Smith said at a news conference Thursday.

A day earlier, Reno police named Clifford as a suspect in the killing of 68-year-old William Andrews, who was found Sunday with a gunshot wound to the head in a residential neighborhood. Police said Clifford fled the area in Andrews' red 2004 Chevrolet Blazer.

When a team of officers from the Reno Police Department, Placer County and Plumas County Sheriff's Office arrested Clifford in Portola, California, they found the same red SUV.

Clifford's father Doug co-founded Creedence Clearwater Revival along with brothers John and Tom Fogerty and Stu Cook and released a series of commercially and critically successful heartland rock albums full of social commentary about America during the Vietnam War.

In 2013, the Library of Congress added her 1969 hit “Fortunate Son” to the National Recording Registry’s list of sound recordings that are “culturally, historically, or aesthetically important.”

The group played together from 1959 to 1972, with a few one-off reunions in the 1980s, before hostilities and legal disputes drove them apart.

When they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993, John Fogerty refused to play with Clifford or Cook.