Possible Human Remains Found in Susan Powell Search

Police searching for Susan Cox Powell in a Utah desert have found remains that “almost certainly human”, according to ABC News affiliate ABC4. It is not yet known whether they belong to Powell, the mother of two from West Valley City, Utah, who disappeared in 2009.

Cadaver dogs that had been combing the fields around Topaz Mountain, near Delta, Utah, found the remains today,  according to the report.

Police said the remains are almost certainly human, not animal, though gender or how long they have been there could not yet be determined, the report said. A medical examiner has been brought to the scene, police told ABC4.

A reporter from the Salt Lake City Tribune tweeted that the West Valley Police, who are leading the investigation into Powell’s disappearance and death, are treating the area as a crime scene and are awaiting Juab County, Utah, sheriff’s officers to arrive to process the remains.

Powell disappeared in December, 2009, while her husband, Josh Powell, allegedly took their children camping at midnight in a snow and rain storm. The campsite he told police he went to is 30 miles away from the desert where the remains were found.

Josh Powell has long been a person of suspect in the investigation, and police recently raided the home he and his father share in Washington. Prior to that, police had searched abandoned mines in Ely, Nevada, in connection to the case.