Fairfield police said Wednesday they are close to charging someone with the murder of 15-year-old Chelsea Johnson.

Police Chief Mike Dickey said they are working with prosecutors to determine whether they should proceed with an arrest.

“We are at a point where we have probable cause to charge someone,” he said. “But whether there is enough to convict, we are in discussions with the prosecutor’s office on that. We’re close, but in today’s day and age you have to have a lot more than probable cause. The CSI effect and all that, that’s what we’re still working on.”

Johnson was found stabbed to death April 16, about nine hours after she was reported missing. Her body was found near a creek by the Creekside Village of Fairfield apartments between River Road and Pleasant Avenue.

With the holidays and Johnson’s 16th birthday fast approaching, her mother Vicky Fible said she is beside herself.

“It will never be the same. Her birthday is Dec. 13, and Thanksgiving is this week and Christmas is coming. It’s bad,” she said.

Fible said she “knows in her heart” who the killer is and she is confident the police will crack the case very soon.

George Donald Davis, 24, pleaded guilty to charges of importuning, drug trafficking and attempting to compel prostitution charges for offering Johnson drugs in exchange for sex. He was sentenced to five and a half years in prison. Dickey has not commented on whether he is a person of interest in the case.

The creek where Johnson was found is also in the same general area from where Katelyn Markham disappeared about a year ago and where Joseph Oakley, 19, of Fairfield, was found dead in August. He had several gunshot wounds. Dickey said “we’re still working on it,” about the Oakley case.