When the family found out about the call seven weeks later, they wanted to know why Petersen didn't tell them. Their concern deepened last week when they checked the calls themselves after getting the phone back from police.

They didn't find the 911 call in the phone log.

Had Petersen erased it? Was this the smoking gun in a cover-up? The answer is no.

Ireland confirmed Petersen did know about the call around the time he gave the list to the Astons, but not because it was logged in the cell phone. Petersen didn't find the 911 call on the cell phone, either. Investigators puzzled over the missing call until they spoke with the cell phone's maker, Audiovox. Ireland said company officials told Provo investigators they program their cell phones not to store calls to emergency numbers, a practice that prevents accidental calls to 911. If stored in the list of calls, emergency numbers could be dialed accidentally with the push of a single button.

Verizon spokesman Robert Kelly said his company's lab tested an Audiovox 8900 in its lab and confirmed the phone does not retain 911 calls.

"The detective did not hide the 911 call on the cell phone," Ireland said. "The 911 call was not on the cell phone."

Still, nobody told the family that. And Petersen did know about the call through other sources by the day after Aston's body was found.

"Our family feels like we still don't have the full truth of what happened," said Carol Davis, Aston's sister. "We deserve that. Why do they think they have power over the family to manage the knowledge of what happened? We can't even get closure, because we still don't know everything that happened."

Billings said the size of the Aston family — Scott Aston left behind a new wife, four brothers and two sisters — and the fact they are spread out across the country has impeded the flow of information. Several different family members have spoken with different city employees, resulting in further disjointed communication.

The process also has been complicated by a lack of continuity in a key city administrative post. The city spokeswoman, Ireland, began her job in February after her predecessor left to work for Utah's new governor.

Also, the possibility of a lawsuit still lurks. But Billings said none of his decision-making was colored by concern for a lawsuit because cities are granted broad immunity involving emergency response. Otherwise, no city would agree to provide it.

"There is a clear body of law that provides immunity to government," Billings said. "The city's liability is very limited, but that was not part of our discussion. The first four to five weeks, we were just focused on trying to discover what had happened."

The Astons and city officials have engaged in negotiations about a possible settlement.

Billings said he isn't put off by the family's anger.

"There's clearly been some additional grieving that family has experienced because of our calling and making them aware of this," he said. "We have felt that anger, we have seen a lot of it and we understand it and respect it."

He added: "We've tried at every turn to be professional, courteous and appropriate, and we've made a point to not be offended, because their frustration is justified.

"My heart goes out to them."

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E-mail: twalch@desnews.com