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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.
“Just been a wound that, you know, has continuously been opened
over the past 20 years just not knowing,” Anderson's son, Axel,
told FOX 13 News. “It’s good to have some closure for the
family, and I’m excited for the future now.”
Anderson’s relatives said he was driving a leased vehicle to a
family cabin in Flaming Gorge to do some painting but never
arrived, according to the Utah Department of Public Safety.
The former cold case had 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.
On Sept. 29, 2024, United Search Corps discovered a submerged
SUV around 50 feet deep in Starvation Reservoir. Law enforcement
extracted the 2001 Toyota Sequoia and later identified it as the
vehicle Anderson had leased. His family says the positive ID,
and the knowledge that no foul play is suspected, will finally
allow them to heal.
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