No 911 call cover-up, Billings says

Finally, he wanted to be certain new procedures were in place in Provo's dispatch center.

But the autopsy shed no light on the cause of Aston's death. That report and Ogden's review were complete at the beginning of November. The city fired the dispatcher who took the call, disciplined another dispatcher and implemented policy changes.

Billings was ready to talk to the family before Thanksgiving. "The decision was made to wait until after Thanksgiving rather than dump all this on them right before the holiday," he said.

The decision to wait, Billings said, was the right one, and was based on good intentions.

"If I could go back and replay this from the moment it started until now, I don't know there is anything I would do differently."

The Astons say Provo has failed to provide information, however.

For example, they didn't know about the Ogden police review until two weeks ago, and it still hasn't been made public.

The Deseret Morning News on March 15 requested a copy of the investigation results and other city documents related to Aston's death. The city has not yet responded to the request even though Utah's government record access law requires the city to respond to the request within five days.

The city asked the family to request in writing copies of any government documents regarding the case, including copies of the recorded 911 call Aston made the day he died. They were required to cite the Government Records Access and Management Act as the reason the city should give them the records.

Provo spokeswoman Raylene Ireland said the formality is necessary because it creates a record of the family's questions. Ireland said she and other administrators and city attorneys have fielded multiple calls from Aston family members and tried to answer their questions.

Family members remain frustrated because they don't know what questions to ask. How could they ask for the Ogden information if they weren't told it existed?

The most intense portion of the family's search is for evidence that Provo employees initially lied to hide the existence of the 911 call. Billings and other city officials deny that anyone ever lied. The problem might be that their explanations of what happened — which were provided during interviews last week with the Deseret Morning News — haven't been offered to the Astons, according to the family.

One major dispute is over Scott Aston's cell phone records. Provo Police Detective Mark Petersen found Aston's cell phone lying by his right arm, the battery dead. The next day, he recovered the final incoming and outgoing calls. He verbally provided the list to the Astons in early October, but he didn't include the 911 call.