Student spots body of teen in Provo River

PROVO — Police are working to identify the remains of a teenage male pulled out of the Provo River on Monday afternoon, less than a block from a nearby high school.

The young man had no discernible wounds and there did not appear to be any reason to suspect foul play, police said.

"It doesn't appear to be suspicious from our examination of the body," said Provo Police Lt. John Geyerman, who added that a full investigation will be conducted.

As of Monday, however, there was little to go on. The victim is believed to be between 15 and 20 years old, but police couldn't immediately tell how long the body had been in the water. He didn't appear to have any ties to Independence High School, which is located less than a block away from where he was found.

"We talked to the school resource officer and (the victim) was not a student at this school," Geyerman said.

The victim did not match the description of any known missing persons, Geyerman said, and his body was turned over to the state medical examiner for identification.

Shiree Russell, 14, first saw the body just west of a bridge near the intersection of 500 North and Independence Avenue (1890 West). She found the body at about 3 p.m. as she was on her way home from school at Independence.

"It was just sticking out of the water," Russell said. "I didn't know what to do, so I ran back to school and called my mom."

Russell's mother, Vonda Eaglehorse, called police and then tried to comfort her daughter.

"I think she's finding it really hard to believe," Eaglehorse said. "I told her to go pray about it."

Utah County Search and Rescue dispatched a team to retrieve the body, which was located in a shallow, slow moving part of the river. Rescue workers had completed the job by about 4:30 p.m.

It was the second time in the last year that rescue workers have had the grim task of removing a young man's body from the river. Last April, the body of 22-year-old Sitha Say, who had been missing for six months, was removed from a spot in the river just a few miles west of where the body was found Monday.

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