‘He meant a lot to everyone’: Family of missing man hoping for answers after he was found dead in Garden City
Apr 7, 2024, 5:30 PM | Updated: 5:38 pm
GARDEN CITY, Rich County — The family of a man who was missing for weeks in Rich County is hoping for answers after his body was found on Tuesday.
The Rich County Sheriff’s Office identified remains found in Garden City as Tristen White. The 27-year-old contractor from La Verkin was reported missing on Jan. 28. He was last seen at the Bear Lake Lodge in Garden City while working on building a deck, according to his family.
Authorities released a press release on Saturday.
“My brother always spoke to us, if not by text by social media,” said Tristen White’s sister Samantha White.
Samantha White said she had spoken to her younger brother via Facetime just a day or two before he had been reported missing.
“He was fine. He was OK,” she said.
The family said a Garden City nonprofit, 21 Angels, had organized a search for Tristen White. On Tuesday, a body was found not far from where he was last seen.
Ana White, Tristen White’s step-mother said family had searched for weeks all over Utah and even Idaho following up on every lead.
Help with the search
“The (Rich County Sherriff’s Office) also assisted us in checking those sightings,” Ana White said. “But unfortunately, he had never left Garden City. We would just like to know what transpired, what happened, especially since he was found adjacent to the motel where he was staying.”
Ana White and Samantha White described Tristen White as a sweet young man who loved the outdoors, loved to skateboard and was very family oriented.
“He’s very good, very outgoing, very respectful,” Samantha White said. “He meant a lot to everyone.”
Despite the questions that still remain, the family is finding a small sense of closure.
“Every day is very hard, but we do have some relief that we have found him and then we are bringing him home,” Ana White said.
The RCSO is still investigating what led up to Tristen White’s death.
Tristen White will be laid to rest next to his grandmother in Richfield.
“We didn’t want him to be alone,” Ana said. Funeral services are scheduled for April 13. The family has set up a Go Fund Me page to help with funeral expenses.
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