Body in vehicle found in Utah reservoir may be man missing 20 years, police say

DUCHESNE, Utah (KSL.com) — A body recovered Monday from a submerged vehicle in Starvation Reservoir is connected to a missing person case from 20 years ago, police say.

Steven Willard Anderson went missing in June 2004, and his disappearance has been an ongoing investigation for many years. United Search Corps’ Doug Bishop and Dave Sparks, with Spark Motors, started collaborating with the Salt Lake County Sheriff’s Office on the case in April.

On Sunday, Bishop located a submerged vehicle approximately 50 feet deep in Starvation Reservoir on the Uintah and Ouray Reservation outside Duchesne, in eastern Utah. The vehicle was confirmed to be connected to Anderson’s case, the Salt Lake County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement Tuesday.

The Salt Lake County Sheriff’s Office worked with the United Search Corps, Duchesne County Sheriff’s Office, Sparks Heavy Rescue, Atlas Towing and the Utah Department of Natural Resources to retrieve the vehicle from the reservoir on Monday.

Human remains were found inside the vehicle, but the identification of the remains has not been completed.

“This was a complex recovery operation that required immense expertise to locate and recover this newly found evidence. This discovery would not be possible without the combined efforts of multiple agencies,” the Salt Lake County Sheriff’s Office said.