EAST CANYON STATE PARK — A 36-year-old cold case is back in the spotlight after a search at East Canyon Reservoir.
In June 1985, 14-year-old Lloyd Reese and 21-year-old David Jaramillo vanished during a trip to the reservoir.
The case gained renewed attention after sonar recently detected a car below the water’s surface.
Several groups, including a search team from Oregon, a Utah Youtuber and the Diesel Brothers used their resources in an attempt to recover the car.
“The theory is that two boys after drinking and partying came down a dark road at high speed and didn’t navigate the corner,” said Mike King, a retired Utah law enforcement officer who now produces a show on YouTube called “Profiling Evil.”
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King’s show is dedicated to cold cases.
Since sonar detected a car below a tight turn on the highway, searchers theorized it could be the Datsun used by Reese and Jaramillo.
“We searched the entire lake and this is the only vehicle we identified,” said Jared Leisek with Oregon based Adventures with a Purpose.
Divers with that organization located the car 100 feet underwater. The Deisel Brother helped tow the vehicle to the surface.
After an hours long tug of war with the mud and silt, a car emerged from the water.
It wasn’t the vehicle searchers were hoping to find.
Instead, it was an abandoned 1990s Toyota that was reported stolen years ago.
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“I am very heartbroken,” said Thunder Alexander, the sister of Lloyd Reese. “He made a promise that night that he was going to come home.”
Alexander was just 7-years-old when Lloyd disappeared and for 36 years she has lived with the pain of not knowing what happened.
She hoped this search would finally provide long awaited closure.
Alexander is thankful for the help from the various organizations involved in the search.
While this mission didn’t deliver any clues, her search is far from over.
“I am not giving up,” she said. “Two boys just don’t go missing and I am going to keep fighting to find them.”
