Children find human remains in Utah canal, police say

WEST VALLEY CITY, UTAH (KSL) — Police discovered human remains in a West Valley City canal Sunday after a group of children playing in the canal found what they believed was a shoe with a bone sticking out, officials said.

The mother of some of the children called police after her children told her what they had seen. The mother said her children were playing with a group of kids in the canal and had seen the shoe and bone a week prior but had just told her about it, according to West Valley City police spokeswoman Roxeanne Vainuku.

KSL.com reports officers responded to the canal near 2700 S. 2500 West and found what appeared to be human remains caught in a pile of debris in the middle of the canal where the aqueduct flows under I-215 and feeds into Decker Lake, Vainuku said.

The next day, the Utah State Dive Team recovered the remains of what appears to be an adult male, according to Vainuku. The Medical Examiner’s Office is working on a DNA match and height and age range.

Detectives attempted to find any further remains a few days later with a cadaver dog team but did not find anything.

This story will be updated as more information becomes available.