Susan Powell searchers have little to show after seven days - Salt Lake Tribune
Topaz Mountain • Undeterred by their failure to find any tangible sign of missing West Valley City mother Susan Powell during seven days of searching, police vowed Sunday to continue their efforts in the desert near Delta, but said they were contemplating a two-day break so officers can spend time with their families.
The number of searchers on Sunday climbed to about 100 — the largest group yet to assemble in the area near Topaz Mountain — as the focus expanded from the east side of the popular rock-hounding area to the west side of the range.
But at the end of the day, there were no new discoveries.
West Valley City Police Lt. Bill Merritt said many of the searchers, including members of the Juab and Millard county search and rescue teams and handlers of the cadaver dogs, are volunteers who must return to their regulars jobs.
Whenever police return to searching, it will be a scaled-back effort involving no dogs, no horses and only 10 or 12 West Valley officers.
Merritt expressed disappointment that a suspected shallow grave they began excavating on Wednesday contained only small pieces of charred wood.
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Cadaver dogs last week detected the scent of human decomposition where the wood pieces were found, and Merritt believes it was used to burn human remains. The wood will be examined by a forensic specialist, but there is presently nothing tying it to Susan Powell.
The hole was 2 feet wide, 3 feet long and a little over 2 feet deep at the point when excavation was halted Saturday evening. Police said the cadaver dogs lost interest in the site after the 100 or so pieces of charred wood were removed.
"Yesterday was a little bit of a blow to us," Merritt said Sunday. "We had really been hoping that this would be something. We worked on that for several days. Everybody was waiting very anxiously to find the latest news on it. When it turned out to be nothing obviously significant to us, it was a big disappointment."
But Merritt added: "We're back at it today. We are not going to give up."
He said he was pleased with how much ground searchers covered Sunday due to the massive volunteer turn-out.
"We've been able to really step things up with the extra personnel," he said. "We are making a lot of progress, covering a lot of mileage and it's just looking really good."
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