Discovery of 2 Bodies Near Utah-Arizona Border Renews Hope For Closure in Case of Missing Couple
Oct 18, 2018, 10:22 PM | Updated: 11:09 pm
DAVIS COUNTY, Utah – A family seeking answers in the disappearance of a couple nine months ago received unexpected news Thursday they believe could lead to closure in the case.
Jerry McFalls, Jr. and his wife, Meridee McFalls, said they received a call from the Mohave County Sheriff’s Office Thursday afternoon notifying them that two bodies had been discovered in the Virgin River Gorge area.
“He wouldn’t give me a whole lot of details as to a specific location where at,” Meridee McFalls told KSL 5 TV. “They were unsure at the time whether they were male or female.”
Jerry McFalls, Sr. and Susan McFalls were last heard from on Jan. 11, and their home in Littlefield, Ariz., was subsequently found unlocked with the couple’s cell phones and valuables in place.
Jerry McFalls, Sr. and Susan McFalls
The son and daughter-in-law said they were asked by an investigator to expedite dental records on the couple to help identify the remains.
The son said he didn’t believe the couple would have simply walked or hiked to the gorge area.
“From their house to the gorge is about 3, 4 miles,” Jerry McFalls, Jr. said. “My mom had degenerative back disease… and she couldn’t walk more than 100 yards in that kind of terrain. They always took their side-by-side if they were going on the dirt roads or one of their cars if they were going somewhere else. They really didn’t walk anywhere.”
He said it would be considered unusual for his parents to be in that area.
“If it is them, they did not get there on their own — it’s one thing that we know for sure,” Meridee McFalls said. “All their vehicles were at home. They did not go for a walk up the gorge any direction.”
The Mohave County Sheriff’s Office did not return KSL’s calls Thursday evening.
Meridee McFalls said she was told the remains were found Monday.
Jerry McFalls, Jr. said he had mixed emotions in wanting to find closure but also holding onto hope his parents would be found alive.
“This is the most hard, terrifying, just rip-you-apart… anything that anybody could go through,” the son said. “If it turns out not to be them, at least somebody out there is going to get their closure, you know, and that’s what counts.”
