WEBER COUNTY, Utah — It’s been one year since Mattie Heiner got the call that crews were searching the Weber River for her sister.
“Libby, she's wonderful,” said Heiner. “Full of life, and she was witty. She was smart, she was kind, and she really just enjoyed the simple things in life. She just, and she was my best friend and pretty much everything to me.”
On May 1, 2023, Officials responded to reports of a Libby Stimpson falling into the river and being swept away.
“Time still moves on, and we can't just kind of hold our lives without moving forward, but we still keep her memory there and keep her with us,” said Heiner.
The community is still trying to help her family find closure.
“There are people that walk that river every single day and they keep their eyes out and are continually looking and see any sign of anything,” said Heiner.
After putting in a total of 4,000 hours of search time and finding nothing, the Weber County Sheriff’s Office called off the search at the end of October, but the investigation is still open.
“We're going to reevaluate it this fall when the water recedes and kind of reevaluate how and what other technologies we can use,” explained Lt. Colby Ryan.
The Sheriff’s Office brought in sophisticated equipment and had professionals research the water path, but they still couldn’t find Libby.
“We're fortunate enough we have an awesome volunteer group on our search and rescue team who, they're all professionals in their own way, and for something like this to go unclosed, it really gets to them,” Ryan said. “But most importantly we want to bring closure for the family.”
