Victim’s brother recounts oldest cold case in Utah after it was finally closed
Jun 26, 2024, 10:30 PM | Updated: 10:59 pm
SALT LAKE CITY — When Steven Weber talks about June 26th, 1965, he still gets emotional. He was 10 years old but remembers the day like it was yesterday.
“It was just really terrible,” he said.”I just didn’t know quite how to handle it.”
As he went through old family photos, he described himself as the “caboose” of the family. His sister, Tanya, was 17 years old and a senior in high school when she was killed.
He gave a big sigh of relief when asked how important it was to have his sister’s killer officially named. Even though it was widely believed to be 26-year-old Owen Kimball, a man who lived nearby, investigators weren’t able to confirm. Nearly 60 years ago, they couldn’t get much more than circumstantial evidence.
And, three days after her death, they said Kimball died by suicide.
The grave of Owen Kimball, the killer of Tanya Weber, who he killed in 1965. The case was not solved until 2023. (findagrave.com)
Lt. Lemuel Earl was one of the lead investigators on the case all those years ago. He’s been retired 24 years now but said it was a case he could never get out of his mind.
“My primary role at that time was investigations,” Earl said. He arrived on the scene on June 26, 1965. He said the hours and days that followed were painstaking as he and other investigators processed the crime scene and meticulously gathered evidence. Their precision and attention to detail are likely the reasons DNA evidence was still intact all this time later.
“We were careful,” Earl said. “We took hundreds of pictures we photographed her shoes, her clothing, her underwear.”
Sixty years ago, investigators didn’t have the technology and access to DNA analysis. That, of course, has changed and a grant by the state of Utah allowed investigators to re-open the case in 2022.
Utah’s State Bureau of Investigation reopened the case and in November of 2023, investigators exhumed Kimball’s remains for DNA analysis. It was a match. Six decades after the 17-year-old high school senior was killed, the case was closed, this time solved.
Tanya Weber, 17, was killed in 1965. Her case would become Utah’s oldest cold case until 2024. The case was closed until November 2023. (KSL TV)
Weber said he has forgiven his sister’s killer, and he hopes this can bring closure to others close to the case too.
“I can’t tell you how much peace of mind I have.”
Earl said getting that call on the 59th anniversary of Tanya’s death was a personal payoff.
“It took a lot of good hard work and effort, not just back in those days but fellows today that stuck with it,” says Earl.
