Police searching the Utah desert in connection with the 2009 disappearance of Susan Cox Powell found human remains Wednesday near Topaz Mountain, NBC station, KSL reported.
Investigators with cadaver dogs found the remains in the deserted, high desert mountain area 130 miles southwest of Provo, said Sgt. Mike Powell of West Valley City, as authorities awaited the arrival of a medical examiner.
“It’s a game of patience at this point,” said Powell, who is not related to the missing woman. “We need to slow down a little bit and identify what it is we found.”
He said authorities secured the scene Wednesday evening and would resume work in the morning.
There is no confirmation yet as to whether the remains are of Powell, but they were found in an area that authorities said is popular with rock hounds and where her husband, Josh Powell, liked to camp.
Susan Powell was last seen at her West Valley City home and at church on Dec. 6, 2009. She was reported missing the next day after she failed to show up for her stockbroker job.
Her husband told authorities that at 12:30 a.m. that morning, he took the couple’s two young sons — then 4 and 2 — camping in single-digit temperatures in a remote part of Tooele County. He said that when he returned a day and a half later, his wife was gone.
Josh Powell, who now lives in Puyallup, Wash., with his father, Steve Powell, remains a person of interest in the case because he has been uncooperative, West Valley Police say.
Reached at his Puyallup home Wednesday afternoon, Josh Powell said he had not been contacted by Utah police regarding the discovery of human remains, NBC station KING reported. He said he had no comment about the discovery.
On Aug. 25, West Valley police detectives, with assistance from the Pierce County, Wash., Sheriff’s Office went to Puyallup to serve a search warrant on the home of Steve Powell, Susan’s father-in-law, and her husband. Authorities seized computers and journals during an extensive hours-long search.
Susan Powell’s father, Chuck Cox, said he believes information from search warrants and interviews led authorities to search the Utah desert.
Cox said West Valley police called him earlier Wednesday at his Puyallup home, but he said the search area is pretty deserted anyone could be buried out there.
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