Remains found in Utah reservoir confirmed to be man missing for 20 years
The remains of a man who disappeared more than 20 years ago when he was on his way to his family's cabin have been found inside a submerged car in a Utah reservoir.
The Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office announced Tuesday that human remains recovered last year from a reservoir in Duchesne County have been identified as Steven Willard Anderson, 46, who went missing in 2004.
The Utah Office of the Medical Examiner and a private lab used DNA testing to identify Anderson's remains. No foul play is suspected in his death, and the case was officially closed Tuesday after decades of uncertainty for the family, the sheriff's office said.
Anderson left his home in Murray to make a more than 200-mile drive to his family's cabin in Flaming George, Utah, CBS affiliate KUTV reported. When he didn't answer his father's phone call, his father went to the cabin to find him.
Anderson's relatives said he was driving a leased vehicle to do some painting but never arrived, according to the Utah Department of Public Safety. His daughter, Emily, in 2022 told KUTV that she believed her father and the vehicle could be submerged somewhere.
The former cold case caught the attention of Doug Bishop from United Search Corps, a nonprofit that specializes in missing person cases, and Dave Sparks, a Utah entrepreneur and internet personality. The pair chronicled their search efforts in videos posted to YouTube and began working with law enforcement last spring.
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