Feds examine human remains found in Susan Powell search - msnbc.com

DELTA, Utah — A federal anthropologist arrived at Utah's central desert Thursday to examine remains found by authorities during a search for clues in the 2009 disappearance of missing mother Susan Cox Powell.

West Valley City Police Lt. Bill Merritt said that because the remains were found by cadaver dogs on rugged, scrub-spotted Bureau of Land Management property near Topaz Mountain in Juab County, federal officials must first examine the site before police can process the scene further.

It wasn't immediately known if the remains found Wednesday belonged to Powell or if they were even female and several steps need to be taken.

Archaeologist Joelle McCarthy will try to determine whether the remains are ancient or modern, NBC station KSL reported.

If they are modern — from the past 50 years — the state medical examiner will be called to the scene to try to identify the remains in a delicate and deliberate process. If McCarthy is not able to determine how old the remains are, a bone expert will be called to the scene Friday.

"Hopefully there will be some artifacts that will help determine an age," McCarthy said. "We'll look for anything left or made by humans."

The remains possibly belonged to ancient Indians or even early settlers, Merritt said.

"We would love this to be a break," Merritt said. "We hope, to a certain extent, that it is not Susan because that would mean that she is maybe alive somewhere."

Investigators spent the night at the scene to protect the remains.

Powell was 28 when she was reported missing Dec. 7, 2009, after she failed to show up for her stockbroker job. The case has cast a harsh spotlight on Powell's husband, Josh, the only person of interest but who has never been arrested or charged.

Josh Powell 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.

The search area about 130 miles southwest of Provo in Utah's central high desert is surrounded by grasses and sagebrush and punctuated by jagged mountains rising from the flat landscape. At the time of year Susan Powell vanished, it would have been covered in snow, the ground frozen.

Josh Powell was driving a minivan that night.

Merritt said the site would have been difficult to reach in December but not impossible.

"Impossible? I can't say that," he said. "Difficult? It probably would be."

Meanwhile Thursday, friends and family waited and prayed.

Kiirsi Hellewell, a close friend of Susan Powell, said the discovery of remains brought a sense of hope that the case might finally move forward but also sadness that she might really be dead.

"It's always a mixture of emotions because we've been down this road before with the discovery of bodies and remains," Hellewell said. "It's like a seesaw because we also don't want to find out that she's dead."

In May, speculation swirled that remains found in the desert about 50 miles southwest of Salt Lake City might have been those of Susan Powell, but authorities later said it was a young adult male.

Last month, investigators searched mine shaft-dotted mountains near Ely, Nev., and later served a search warrant at the Puyallup, Wash., home that Josh Powell shares with his father, seizing computers and journals.

This latest search is in an area popular for gem and rock hunters. Police have said Josh Powell liked to rock hunt in the area.

"From the very beginning he clearly indicated he had been in and around the area," said West Valley City Police Sgt. Mike Powell, who is not related to the family of the missing woman.

Susan Powell's father, Chuck Cox, expressed doubt that the remains belonged to his daughter because of how difficult it would have been to access the area in winter.

"We're just waiting," he said Wednesday evening.

The Powell family put out a statement late Wednesday urging police to put out details about the remains.

"With very little information available to the public, we can only hope that additional information is released quickly to minimize heartache to those of us who love Susan. In the meantime, we continue to hope for Susan's safe return," it said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.