Police identify 15-year-old girl found dead in Jordan River


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DRAPER — Investigators continued Monday piecing together the final 20 hours of the life of 15-year-old Anne Kasprzak, who was found dead Sunday in the Jordan River.

Investigators had little new information about Anne's death Monday, but hoped someone would come forward who may have seen the Riverton teen or has any information about what she was doing between 7:45 p.m. Saturday and 4 p.m. Sunday, when her body was discovered.

"We really want to find out how this happened, why this happened," Draper Police Sgt. Chad Carpenter said. "If they saw her with someone, that helps us. If they saw her alone, that helps us."

Carpenter said Anne's case is being handled as a "suspicious death investigation" that is being treated as a homicide. However, he said he did not have results of a Monday autopsy and did not know whether the state medical examiner was classifying her death as a homicide, suicide or accidental.

Yet Carpenter noted that investigators believe her death was an "isolated act" and not random, saying joggers and other recreationists shouldn't have to worry about a killer on the loose in that area. Carpenter, however, declined to comment on why police believe the incident was isolated.

When asked to describe whether there were any obvious signs of trauma on Anne's body, Carpenter would only say, "She did have injuries," but refused to elaborate or say what may have caused them.

Anne was reported as a runaway on Saturday. The last time she was seen was at her mother's house in Riverton about 7:45 p.m. Carpenter said he did not have any information Monday about why police classified her as a runaway.


She was a good student. She was always willing to help out in the classroom.

–Dillan Harper-Smith


Her body was pulled from the Jordan River near 12600 South after police responded to reports of suspicious activity in the area earlier in the day. A bloody sneaker was found on a pedestrian bridge. A shoe found with Anne's body after she was pulled from the water matched the other on the bridge. She was last seen wearing a red flannel shirt and blue jeans.

On Monday, teddy bears were placed along the Jordan River Parkway next to the banks of the river where Anne's body was found.

At Anne's school, Summit Academy High School, 14942 S. 663 West, school executive director Steve Crandall said the students and faculty were in shock.

"Obviously it's a horrible tragedy. We just try to make sense of something you can't really make sense of. We had our crisis team in first thing this morning," he said.

Anne was a ninth-grader at the school and had started attending in the fall. She was enrolled at Oquirrh Hills Middle School at the beginning of the school year, but only attended for a very short time before withdrawing from the school, a Jordan School District spokesman said.

Dillan Harper-Smith, a 10th-grader, said he sat next to Anne in English.

"She was a good student. She was always willing to help out in the classroom," he said.

Dillan said Anne would talk frequently with him, mainly about skiing and being in the outdoors. But he noted she was quieter than normal last week.

At the home of Anne's father in Draper, a man answered the door for reporters Monday but then politely said, "No comment" without identifying himself.

Anyone with information is asked to call Draper police at 801-840-4000. Detectives are hoping the public can help them fill in the gaps of a timeline they are constructing.

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Pat Reavy

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