KEMMERER, Wyo. — Investigators verified Wednesday that a Utah Transit Authority employee found dead Tuesday off a dirt road near this rural Wyoming town was killed.

The body of Kay Porter Ricks, 63, of American Fork, was found near U.S. 189 about 16 miles south of Kemmerer.

"We have enough information that we're going to handle it as a homicide in our county. I won't go into any specifics as far as injury or manner of death," Lincoln County Sheriff Shane Johnson said Wednesday.

The biggest question now for investigators in multiple agencies across two states is whether Ricks' death was part of a larger series of criminal events committed by a father and son charged with kidnapping and assaulting a Clinton woman and her four teenage daughters last week in Centerville.

Dereck James "DJ" Harrison, 22, of Centerville, and his father, Flint Wayne Harrison, 51, of Pinedale, Wyoming, remained in the Sublette County Jail Wednesday. Both were arrested Saturday in the Half Moon Lake area near Pinedale following a massive manhunt.

Investigators are "certainly concerned" that Ricks' death may be connected to the Harrisons, Johnson said. "There are some coincidences there that would be impossible to ignore as we continue to investigate."

The key to finding a potential link may be locating Ricks' missing UTA truck.

His maintenance vehicle was last spotted in the parking lot at the UTA's Ballpark Station, 180 W. 1300 South, between 5 and 5:10 p.m. on May 12. But officials could not confirm who was driving at that time.

UTA Police Chief Fred Ross said the vehicle was next spotted two hours later in Diamondville, Wyoming, about 7 p.m.

"If you do the math, it's possible that truck could be there within that time frame," Ross said.

The Diamondville police chief and one of Johnson's deputies received information from employees of an Arctic Circle restaurant on Tuesday that Ricks' truck had been there. Those who spotted the truck could not verify to police who or how many people had been in it.

The two officers began looking for places off of U.S. 189 where a body might be hidden.

"With some good hard work, good police work, and probably a little bit of luck involved, they found (the body)" within a couple of hours, Johnson said, adding that detectives believe it had been there "for a few days."

While Ricks' body was not concealed, Johnson said it appeared "there may have been some attempt to put it in an area where it wouldn't be found readily."

The crime scene was on federal land in a rural area popular in the summer with ATV riders and hunters, the sheriff said.

Lincoln County sheriff's deputies and the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation, including a crime lab unit from Cheyenne, spent hours Wednesday collecting evidence. Johnson declined, however, to say what was found.

"It's obvious to us it's a homicide, but I'm not going to discuss the types of injuries we observed," he said.

He did confirm that Ricks still had his identification on him and was wearing the same clothes he was last seen in.

"This is a horrible incident. By everything that I understand, this guy was in the wrong place at the wrong time and some awful people took advantage of him," the sheriff said. "It was totally unnecessary it happened — just an absolute travesty for that family. Our thoughts and prayers go out to that family because this is just a horrible incident."

Johnson did not directly answer questions about whether Ricks was killed in the area where he was found or if his body was dumped there after being killed somewhere else.

The Harrisons

The Harrison father and son are accused of luring a woman to a house in Centerville on May 10 along with her four daughters. Once there, the men allegedly led the women into the basement where police say they had a shotgun, a baseball bat, zip ties and duct tape already ripped into strips in preparation for their arrival. The women were tied up and beaten before breaking free and escaping.

After the Harrisons fled the home, they got a ride from an acquaintance to Salt Lake City, according to police. They made their way from there to the Half Moon Lake area near Pinedale, but investigators don't know how they got there.

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A day after declining to waive extradition back to Utah, two men accused of kidnapping and assaulting a Clinton mother and her four daughters have apparently changed their minds.

A search warrant was served at Flint Harrison's Pinedale home Wednesday by agents from the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation.

The Harrisons appeared briefly in court Monday in Sublette County, Wyoming, where they were being held on $750,000 bail. On Tuesday, they waived extradition to Utah.

Centerville Police Lt. Von Steenblik said charges have already been filed in Davis County where he believes prosecutors have a solid case. The Harrisons could be returned to Utah within the next week or so while Wyoming officials have time to put together a case. The father and son could be extradited back to Wyoming if it's determined they were involved in the homicide.

"This is just a very amazing, crazy case. We feel so bad for the Ricks family that they got pulled into this," Steenblik said.

Multiagency investigation

Ricks was last seen by employees at a staff meeting about 4 p.m. on May 12, Ross said. His truck was spotted "in motion" near Smith's Ballpark an hour later. Ricks' cellphone was also found in that area and was turned over to police.

Ross emphasized that UTA is a large agency that is more like a family. Ricks was a maintenance of way worker who had been employed with the agency since 2010. He was the father of three sons and six grandchildren and was married for 42 years.

Johnson said authorities were continuing to follow leads as they search for Ricks' missing vehicle.

Sublette County Sheriff's Sgt. Katherine Peterson said as the investigation shifts to Lincoln County, investigators in her county were working to rule out any locations in the area where the truck might be found.

"We are going to put a boat on the water, both Fremont and Half Moon lakes," Peterson said. "It's strictly because they (Harrisons) were in that area, there's no evidence the truck will be found in those lakes. … We just want to help Utah authorities and, of course, the family of Mr. Ricks bring some closure to this situation."

The Lincoln County Sheriff's Office is coordinating the investigation with UTA police, Centerville police, the FBI and other Wyoming law enforcement agencies.

"There are numberous agencies involved, and we're all working together to find out what we can and continue this investigation," Johnson said.

Several police vehicles were seen Wednesday going in and out of a blocked off road where the body was found. The police activity was occurring in an open area between a couple of small hills. A Utah Department of Public Safety helicopter briefly landed to pick up detectives and give them an aerial view of the crime scene, while a DPS spokeswoman confirmed one of the agency's dive teams was headed to help search the lakes.

Even though the death and Centerville's case have not been definitively linked, Steenblik arrived at the scene south of Kemmerer Wednesday to provide local authorities with "as much info on our case as we can."

Additional searches were being organized for Thursday in Sublette County, he said.

UTA police planned to escort Ricks' body to the Utah State Medical Examiner's Office in Salt Lake City by procession "as a sign of respect," Ross said. A Lincoln County investigator was expected to assist in the autopsy.

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