Victim in Utah cold case identified after 32 years

By Spencer Burt

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    OGDEN, Utah (KSTU) — After more than 30 years, a Utah family finally has some closure to the disappearance of their loved one.

The Weber County Sheriff’s Office announced Monday that they recently confirmed the identity of a victim who was found dead under suspicious circumstances 32 years ago.

Detective Ty Hebdon said that on April 16, 1992, deputies responded to a fire in a field near I-15 and 21st Street in Ogden. In the field, there was a boat that was also on fire, and within the boat was a man’s body.

After the fire was extinguished, the body was “unrecognizable,” Detective Hebdon said. There were no personal items with which to identify the victim, and it was deemed suspicious at the time.

An autopsy was conducted that confirmed the victim was a man, believed to be between 30-45 years old. However, he still remained unidentified after trying to match dental records, DNA and more over the years.

This year, the Weber Metro Cold Case Task Force was formed, and Hebdon said this case in particular was re-examined. Detectives used advanced DNA testing and “investigative genetic genealogy testing,” and they finally got a result.

The victim was identified as Kevin Lynn Capps, who was 30 years old.

Investigators learned that Capps had a then-4-year-old daughter. In August of this year, they were able to contact her and deliver the news.

In the video below, Chelsea LaRoe (his daughter) and Rhonda Capps (his sister) talk about how they learned Kevin Capps had been identified after all these years.

LaRoe said she always wondered where her dad went.

“I spent my entire life wondering why he left and if he ever thought about me as a kid growing up. It made me sad, angry, and filled with questions,” she said. “Although that day gave me some closure of knowing, I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, so I just did both.”

She said she and her mom went to the cemetery to visit her dad’s gravesite, where he had been buried in an unmarked grave for years.

While Capps’ body has finally been identified, it’s unknown how he died or who killed him, and the investigation continues. The sheriff’s office asks anyone with information that could help the case to call Detective Hebdon at 801-778-6646, or submit an online report/tip on the sheriff’s office website.

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