At the finish line, Heikki showed his trademark gratitude, remembers John Grobben, who has met nearly every finisher with a handshake or hug since he took over the job of Wasatch 100 race director in 1986.

"He was always so nice and so gracious and so generous with his praise for other people," Grobban said. He deflected credit to everyone else — his pacers, his support crew, his check point teams.

Bill Johnston, Ted Heal, Tim Seminoff, Jon Harper, Bob Sperling, Makarewicz — these guys and several more were part of an elite brotherhood of Utah distance runners who trained and ran together.

In the ultra-running community, each person seemed to have a mentor, and Tim Seminoff's mentor was Heikki.

"This guy loved running. I mean, he loved it." But there is a significant measure of obsession involved in this kind of distance running, he said.

"It is an addiction, and it's hard to know what might have happened when he couldn't run."

"He cherished her."

— Phil, a neighbor in Arizona, said of Heikki's feelings for his wife, Ana

Ana, the woman Heikki married, remains a mystery.

According to police and family members, Ana Valdez Cordova lives in Tucson. She did not return numerous telephone calls for this article.

Police reports and official documents provide some details about the marriage — much more than Heikki ever told friends or family members in Utah. He shared details with only a few people.

Heikki didn't tell his boss about Ana when he came to Ledbetter's office one day and said he was quitting his job as a juvenile counselor.

"It's time to move on," Heikki told Ledbetter. "I'm going to Tucson."

It wasn't the first time Heikki had pulled up stakes in Salt Lake City. He moved to Nevada once for a few months and to New York for about a year. At one point, he lived in a Volkswagen bus in Santa Barbara, Calif. Heikki always returned to Utah.

According to police reports and court records, Heikki married Ana S. Valdez Cordova on Oct. 15, 2004. He still was living in Utah but moved to Arizona four months later.

In November 2004, Heikki and Anjewierden attended a football game between the University of Utah and Brigham Young University. They met at Chili's restaurant on 400 South and joined a crowd of Ute fans at a pre-game party.

After some chit-chat, Heikki said, "Hey, I got married."

"Yeah, right," Anjewierden remembers telling him. Anjewierden thought Heikki was joking, trying to sucker him into some story like always.

"Yeah, I really did," Heikki said. She was a good friend who lived in Tucson but was from Mexico, he told his friend.