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WEST VALLEY CITY — A decomposing body was discovered in the Jordan River Monday afternoon.
A work crew discovered the body mostly submerged and obscured by plant debris near 3300 S. 1200 West around 11 a.m., according to West Valley police spokeswoman Roxanne Vainuku. They noticed the body barely sticking out of the water in the middle of the river. It was underneath a bridge and partially hidden by water plants, Vainuku said.
Police were contacted and a dive team recovered the body from the water around 2:30 p.m., Vainuku said. Investigators were unable to determine gender, age or the cause of death due to decomposition of the body.
The body was taken to the Utah State Medical Examiner's Office just after 3 p.m. for an autopsy.
The family of missing Murray woman Kayelyn Louder also showed up at the scene. There was no immediate indication from investigators that they believed the body found was of Louder or that it was even a woman.
Police could not say Monday how long they believe the body had been in the water.
Louder, 30, has been missing since Sept. 27. She was last seen on a surveillance video walking out of her condominium. Prior to her disappearance, police say Louder made three odd 911 calls, leading officers to believe she may be confused and possibly delusional.
In an unrelated incident, three Salt Lake City men have been missing since Nov. 1. Levi Collins, 34, Danny Kiko Gallegos, 35, and Braden Parker Emerson, 23 disappeared under mysterious circumstances.
An SUV with a large amount of blood that the men were believed to be in was found Nov. 3 near the Jordan River surplus canal at 1740 W. 1500 South.
On Monday evening West Valley police tweeted there would be "no further updates" on the case until the autopsy was complete.
Contributing: Sandra Yi
