Witnesses tried to reach a Salt Lake County couple trapped in Little Cottonwood Creek but were no match for swift waters, which carried the couple downstream to their deaths Sunday evening.
Brett and Kristie Switzer Ekberg, 23 and 21, respectively, died from injuries that resulted from the crash and their battle with the runoff-swollen creek. Brett was found unconscious almost a mile downstream from the site of the 8 p.m. crash shortly after mountain bikers saw the accident and tried to help.He was declared dead later at LDS Hospital. Searchers were not able to find Kristie, his bride of three months, until Monday at noon. Search dogs located her body, still under water, about 1/4 mile downstream from the car.
Salt Lake County sheriff's spokesman Rod Norton said several people riding mountain bikes about 11/2 miles up Little Cottonwood Canyon saw the Ekbergs' car driving down the canyon.
Brett Ekberg was driving as the couple was leaving the canyon during a Sunday drive.
"Witnesses described him as pulling out as if he were going to pass a slower-moving vehicle, but he never went back (to the right side of the road)," Norton said. The car, instead, went off the road and into the creek.
The two victims had gotten out of their car, which was mostly submerged in the creek, and were clinging to each other on the roof when the bikers reached them. "One reached an overhanging branch and was trying to manipulate it over to where Brett could reach it," Norton said. "Brett lost his footing and both went under the water and were carried downstream."
The witnesses then ran back to their bikes when the couple was swept away. "They started racing down the river to try and keep up with them," Norton said.
Sheriff's investigators are still unsure how bad the two were injured in the crash or what caused it. "We know with the male the cause of death was severe trauma. How much of that can be attributed to the crash versus being smashed against rocks in the river going down - that's going to be hard to determine," Norton said.