Man vanished going to cabin in 2004. Now remains may be found in submerged car in Utah

A 46-year-old man went to paint his family cabin but never arrived, Utah officials said.

Twenty years later, his remains may have been found, according to an Oct. 1 news release by the Salt Lake County Sheriff’s Office.

In 2004, Steven Willard Anderson left in his leased car to Flaming Gorge, about a 200-mile drive east of Salt Lake City, according to the Utah Department of Public Safety.

“Last conversation, he came to pick me up to go to the cabin on this trip,” Axel Anderson, Anderson’s son, told FOX 13. “I had forgotten I had a birthday party to go to, and I told him ‘no’ at the door and that was it. You never think that it’s gonna be the last time you talk to somebody.”

The case remained open and eventually caught the attention of Doug Bishop with the United Search Corps, a missing persons unit, and Dave Sparks with Sparks Motors, authorities said.

The two began collaborating with detectives.

On Sept. 29, a car linked to Anderson was found submerged 50 feet deep in the Starvation Reservoir, deputies said.

The next day, the car was recovered from the reservoir and human remains were found inside, officials said.

“It’s the vehicle — 1000% confirmed the vehicle,” Sparks told Fox 13. “Obviously forensics will have to tell us what remains we found, but there were remains and it was the vehicle we were after.”

The identification of the remains is pending, officials said.

Starvation Reservoir is about a 100-mile drive southeast of Salt Lake City.

This story was originally published October 2, 2024 at 12:54 PM with the headline "Man vanished going to cabin in 2004. Now remains may be found in submerged car in Utah."