Authorities have identified human remains recovered from a Utah reservoir, bringing closure to a two-decade-old missing persons case.
The Salt Lake County Sheriff’s Office confirmed Tuesday that remains found last year in Duchesne County belonged to Steven Willard Anderson, a 46-year-old man who vanished in 2004 while en route to his family’s cabin.
Using DNA analysis, the Utah Office of the Medical Examiner and a private laboratory were able to positively identify Anderson. Investigators do not suspect foul play, and the case has officially been closed, authorities said.
Anderson, a Murray, Utah resident, had set out on a 200-mile journey to his family’s Flaming Gorge cabin but never arrived. His father, concerned after not hearing from him, drove to the cabin to check, but Anderson was nowhere to be found.
At the time of his disappearance, Anderson was driving a leased vehicle and reportedly planned to paint the cabin. In 2022, his daughter Emily voiced her belief that her father and the car may have ended up underwater somewhere along his route.
The long-unsolved case gained renewed interest when Doug Bishop from United Search Corps, a nonprofit specializing in missing person searches, and Utah entrepreneur Dave Sparks took an interest in the mystery. The duo documented their investigation on YouTube and began working with law enforcement in early 2024. Their collaborative efforts ultimately helped lead to the discovery of Anderson’s remains.
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