A dismembered foot found by a hiker and his dog in May along the shore of a Utah lake belonged to a fisherman who went missing nearly 28 years ago, the Sevier County Sheriff’s Office said.
David White, of Washington, Utah, went missing in September 1997 after fishing alone at Fish Lake. His remains were found by a hiker and his dog in May.
A dismembered foot found by a hiker and his dog in May along the shore of a Utah lake belonged to a fisherman who went missing nearly 28 years ago, the Sevier County Sheriff’s Office said.
The foot was identified as belonging to David White, of Washington, Utah, after it was found inside a hiking boot along the shore of Fish Lake on May 16, the Sevier County Sheriff’s Office announced in a news release Tuesday.
White’s daughter, Stefanie Bennett, thanked officials for their efforts to close the decades-long case.
“We are also deeply grateful to the individual and his dog who found the shoe – without them, we would not be where we are today,” Bennett said in a statement released by the sheriff’s office.
Police said White, an avid fisherman, went missing in September 1997 while fishing alone at Fish Lake — a popular deep-water destination in south-central Utah known for its large mackinaw trout. He had rented a hotel room the night before and planned to meet others for the trip, but those plans fell through, according to police.
His boat was later found trolling across the lake, and a shoe and hat were found floating nearby, police said. Authorities believed White had fallen into the water. Search crews spent five days combing the area, but found no further trace of him, police said.
After the remains were discovered in May, the Utah Medical Examiner’s Office sent a DNA sample to a forensic lab for comparison with a sample from one of White’s daughters, police said. The results confirmed a parent-child match with 99.9994% certainty, they said.
“This case has been on the mind of every one of the SAR members who were involved in the search 28 years ago. It is good to finally have some closure for the family and the searchers,” Sheriff Nathan Curtis said in the news release. Curtis also thanked all the agencies involved in the searches over the years,including the latest discovery.