Body of 23-year-old man recovered from Causey Dam


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WEBER COUNTY — Search and rescue crews located the body of a man who went missing Friday evening while cliff jumping at Causey Dam.

Matt Heffernan, 23, was recovered at 11 a.m. Saturday. Heffernan was from Cleveland, Ohio but was living in Salt Lake City while attending the University of Utah, authorities said.

According to Weber County Sheriff's Office Lt. Brandon Toll, Heffernan was tubing through the reservoir Friday with two other friends. The three men were drifting with the wind through an area called Skull Crack Canyon, which Toll said is very isolated and difficult to access with large crews. While making their way through the canyon on tubes, Toll said the men would stop and intermittently jump off surrounding cliffs.

Toll said Hefernan jumped off a cliff for a fifth time and attempted a double backflip. Heffernan landed face first on the water and didn't come back up, he said.

The Weber County Sheriff's Office received a call from a kayaker who paddled about a third of a mile for cell phone service after he saw Heffernan's friends jump in after him, Toll said.

Search and rescue crews were on the scene until about 11 p.m. Friday. Saturday morning, divers and water support crews resumed their efforts.

Divers found Heffernan's body under about 50 feet of water at 11 a.m.

Toll said that while the men wore life vests while tubing through the area, they removed them while cliff jumping. It is required by county ordinance to wear a life vest any time while on Causey Reservoir.

Contributing: Karilyn Frazier, Katie Larsen ![](http://beacon.deseretconnect.com/beacon.gif?cid=310036&pid=4)

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