Officers have a possible new lead in the search for a missing Cottonwood Heights woman.
Michelle Erickson was last heard from on June 9. She was at the store that night and later was talking on the phone with her former stepson.
After Erickson failed to show up at an appointment later in the week, concerned family members went to her apartment near the Cottonwood Mall, where they found the grocery bags and some of the items she had purchased on the floor.
The family originally said there had been no activity on her cell phone or her credit cards since June 9.
Salt Lake County sheriff's investigators, who have been checking her records, now say a credit card of Erickson's was used at a gas station in Downey, Idaho, on June 10, said Salt Lake County Sheriff's Lt. Paul Jaroscak.
A $34 purchase was made just before 5 a.m., he said. It was unknown Thursday whether the purchase was for gas or something else.
The sheriff's office was still investigating Thursday whether Erickson was the one who used her card or if it was another person.
Erickson was reported missing June 12, but the family agreed to wait on a full investigation until after her parents returned from Lake Powell. Some wondered whether she had gone to meet them. When Erickson's parents and her two children returned from Lake Powell and other family members discovered she was not with them, a full investigation was launched.
Erickson is 5 feet 3 inches tall, weighs 135 pounds, and has hazel eyes and chin-length blondish hair. Her missing car is a 2001 red Pontiac Grand Am four-door with Utah license plate 209 NKU.
Anyone with information on Erickson is asked to call the sheriff's office at 743-7000.
E-mail: preavy@desnews.com