BOUNTIFUL — Police found the body of a missing 16-year-old girl today in Mueller Park Canyon. A convicted sex offender who has been living in Woods Cross is being questioned about any role he may have played in her death.

Search dogs discovered the body of Samantha Mikesell in some brush and undergrowth near the backyard of a home on Wood Hollow Drive. Police said they found empty pill bottles nearby.

Officers on Thursday were questioning Walter White, 38, who admitted that he had been with Mikesell since Sunday. Bountiful police said White admitted to picking up Mikesell on Sunday at Dee's Restaurant in Bountiful, where she worked, and taking her to the canyon.

On Tuesday, White was found by a Davis County Sheriff's deputy. White had been walking down a road and had deep cuts and scratches all over his body. He was taken to Lakeview Hospital, where he was treated and released. Officers investigating Mikesell's disappearance then tracked down White at his Woods Cross apartment, where he confirmed that he had been with the girl.

"He just said on Sunday they went on a hike in Mueller Park Canyon," Bountiful Police detective Paul Cardall said. White was involuntarily readmitted to Lakeview Hospital's psychiatric ward on Wednesday, where he remains under armed guard.

"He's saying he cannot remember what happened," Cardall said.

Officers said White has admitted to taking prescription drugs and alcohol. Evidence of that was found at the scene where Mikesell's body was found, police said.

"He said he took some pills, he drank some Jim Beam, she took some pills," Bountiful Police Lt. Steve Gray said Thursday. "He woke up. She didn't."

Police on Thursday said they had heard rumors of a suicide pact between the two. However, officers declined to confirm whether the rumors were true.

The medical examiner will perform an autopsy today on Mikesell. Investigators said her body showed no obvious signs of trauma, and the death appeared consistent with an overdose.

Police said Mikesell met White through his son, and the two were friends. Officers seized a mattress and a computer from White's apartment on Thursday. However, police said there was no evidence of a sexual relationship between White and Mikesell.

Cardall said Mikesell's family may have recently learned of her friendship with White and disapproved.

"They're in shock and disbelief right now," Cardall said after meeting with them on Thursday morning.

White was convicted of lewdness involving a child in 1996. He was placed on the state of Utah's sex-offender registry.

For more details, read tomorrow's edition of the Deseret Morning News.

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E-mail: bwinslow@desnews.com; preavy@desnews.com