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SPRINGDALE — Kurt Wright retired in 2015 after 30 years in law enforcement.
But the former police chief, who still works as a death investigator for the Utah State Medical Examiner's Office in Washington County, says he still has a hard time letting go of the mystery of a skull and other human remains that washed up three years ago following a series of heavy storms.
"This has always just kind of nagged at me for some reason, and I wanted some closure to it," Wright said Monday.
In September 2014, kayakers who had been in the North Creek just above Virgin, found a human skull, according to police. The skull was found a day after heavy rain had flooded the area. When searchers went back to the area, more remains, including a pelvis, were found.
The state medical examiner determined the remains belonged to a white man, between 35 to 45 years old, between 5-foot-6 and 6-foot-1, who likely died sometime between 2009 and 2014. The man also had "well-healed fractures to his nose and skull and poor dental work," according to a press release from Springdale police.
A report from the medical examiner's office concluded the skull also had fresh fractures that were caused either by "a blunt force blow to the right side of the head or the head hitting a blunt object during a fall."
But there were no reports of missing people in the area. And Wright said he doesn’t remember any unsolved cases that would match this.
DNA from the skeletal remains sent to Texas has not gotten a hit on any databases, including national systems for missing people.
"It's just not a normal place to find human remains," he said.
Based on the fractures, Wright believes, "it's either a suicide or a homicide."
Now, Wright hopes that new leads will be generated by publicly talking about the case again, one that he said he wants to get closure for both the victim's family and himself.
Anyone with information can contact the Springdale/Zion Canyon Department of Public Safety at 435-772-3434.
