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Sam Penrod ReportingA Woods Cross man claims he survived five days pinned by a rock in Big Cottonwood Canyon before being rescued. But now authorities are questioning how long he had been there.
Fifty-year-old Steve Marsden was rescued around 6:00 tonight. He is under observation at University Hospital. Investigators say his injuries are not very serious, and are not consistent with someone who's been trapped for five days.
A driver in the canyon heard his cries for help this evening and stopped at the Storm Mountain area. A couple of hundred feet from the road, he found Marsden pinned by a rock.
Marsden was alert and talking, after rescuers freed him from the rock that reportedly trapped him about 200 feet away from the canyon road. Marsden told his rescuers that's where he'd been for the last five days.
Sgt. Paul Jaroscak, Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office: "The story that we got from him is that he actually walked up the trail to spend some time alone and do some reading, and that's when the accident happened."
Marsden says he was walking down the trail when he slipped and his right leg got pinned in between a tree, and a rock fell on top of him, pinning him here for what he says was five days.
However, investigators found that the man's cell phone, which had been left in his car, had been used to call his home twice about 5 a.m. Monday, Jarosack said late Monday. He said it was not known if the calls had been answered.
He also said Marsden only had a bruise, which Jarosack said was not consistent with being pinned by the rock, and officers had learned that the man had been having emotional problems.
Jarosack said Marsden, who was undergoing evaluation at University Hospital, was sticking with his story about being trapped but was vague on the details.
Someone who stopped to look at the sunflowers on the road heard the man's cries for help and called for rescuers. But what did he have to survive?
Sgt. Paul Jaroscak, Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office: "I'm told he had a canteen that had a small amount of water. That canteen is empty."
Marsden's story of being trapped for five days became more credible during the rescue when his brother reported him missing.
Sgt. Paul Jaroscak, Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office: "About that same time we were notified that a gentleman was missing from the Woods Cross area. It turned out to be the same man we found on the trail here."
Once Marsden was safe, authorities began trying to determine just how long he was trapped.
Sgt. Paul Jaroscak, Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office: "As we do more interviews and check things out, like cell phone records and talking to people who may have seen him, we'll narrow that down."
Authorities now wonder if he may have been trapped for a matter of hours instead of days.
Jarosack had said earlier in the evening that it was unusual that Marsden had not been found sooner, since he was not far from the road and on a trail frequented by hikers.
(The Associated Press contributed to this report)
