His location was a mystery for 49 days, yet on Saturday, the family of Trejon Fite was confident they located his remains.

A body recovered from marshlands about 7 miles north of the marina at the Great Salt Lake has been identified by a state medical examiner as that of Trejon, the 8-year-old boy who drowned June 13 when he fell off a large pipe that stretches across a canal near the corner of California Avenue and Redwood Road.

For three weeks, more than 100 law enforcers, 24 canoes, cadaver dogs, a helicopter and rafts combed a 14-mile stretch of the canal to no avail.

The family continued the search for the boy's body so they could find a sense of closure.

"From June 13 till today we've had a lot of support from family, family friends and my coworkers, and it was my coworkers that found him today," said Rickey Brown, Trejon's grandfather. "And I just want to say thanks to all them, so many people. It's been really difficult."

A search party organized by the family found the body at about 10 a.m. Saturday. Crews made contact with the sheriff's office, and search and rescue teams were called in to assist with the recovery.

"My understanding is the family has continued the search throughout the entire 49 days, and they were somehow associated with the group of searchers in airboats that found the youngster (Saturday), so it appears to be a family-organized event," said Salt Lake City police detective Dennis McGowan.

Trejon was found some 15 miles from where he originally slipped and fell into the swift current of the 60-foot-wide canal. Some 13 tributaries feed into the Great Salt Lake, and as a result, the area is riddled with debris. Tires, piping and driftwood litter the creek beds. McGowen said the searchers waded through more than a mile of the thick marsh before locating the body.

Since Trejon's disappearance, Brown said many family members, including himself, had made daily trips to the marsh to search for the body. As the water levels in the marsh began to diminish, Brown contacted Mike Butkovich, a coworker at the Division of Juvenile Justice Services and avid duck hunter in the marshes, and asked for his assistance.

On Saturday Butkovich and his friends, Brian Anderson, Ron Hall, Aaron Shepher and Gary Vaneklenberg, set out into the marsh in air boats with GPS devices and chest-high waders to search for Trejon. Before the search began, Brown had identified the Goggin Drain as a likely location, and Butkovich helped map possible routes through the marsh.

"If you didn't have a GPS, you'd be lost," Butkovich said. "It was a jungle in there, but we kept plugging along and, luckily, helped the family find some closure."

The group pushed through the deep streams that crisscross the marsh, carrying sticks to locate sink holes. As they progressed toward the Goggin Drain, they stopped at corners where debris had accumulated and eventually saw the bright blue shirt Brown said Trejon had been wearing when he fell into the canal.

"We all remained calm, and I got ahold of Mr. Brown to let him know we located his grandson," Butkovich said. "It was a sad moment, but I was glad to hear his voice and know we'd helped him find some peace."

"It's a terrible thing that happened," Brown said. "He was a wonderful kid with a great spirit. ... It's sad he had to die doing what kids do."

An account to help Brown pay for funeral expenses has been set up at all Wells Fargo banks under Trejon Fite's name.

e-mail: cnorlen@desnews.com