Salt Lake homicide detectives are investigating the death of a Salt Lake woman whose body was found Monday submerged in the Jordan River surplus canal.
"There's some suspicious things we're looking at, and right now we're classifying it as a suspicious death," Police Lt. Bill Gray said.About 7:30 a.m., an off-duty deputy sheriff noticed a four-wheel-drive vehicle inside the canal near 1250 W. 2100 South. It appeared to have run over a warning sign and down the embankment of an overpass. The passenger door of the vehicle was open, and a body was lying face down and submerged in the water next to the door.
The vehicle is registered to a Salt Lake man who told police he has not seen his wife, 35, since she left their home early Sunday to go shopping. The man said he called police to report her missing, but department policy requires that a person must be missing at least 24 hours before a missing-person report can be filed.
Officers and firefighters pulled the body out of the canal about 9:45 a.m. Gray said the body had no obvious signs of trauma. The body was taken to the medical examiner's office for an autopsy.
Police believe the vehicle likely went into the canal between 9:30 and 10:30 p.m. Sunday because the vehicle and roadway were dusted with snow from the night before.
Police searched the riverbanks in the area but found no other victims.
The woman was unofficially identified as Mitori Warner.