'Someone was there': Family of Utah woman found in drain hopes for clues a year later
(KUTV) — A year after her untimely death, the family of a woman who was found dead in a West Valley City storm drain is hoping someone will come forward with information about what happened to her.
One thing is for sure — Cami Shepherd didn’t put herself in the storm drain where she was found in April 2018.
“At this point, it’s a true mystery because we don’t know how she would end up there,” private investigator Jason Jensen told 2News.
Jensen is now taking on Shepherd’s case at the request of her family. He is confident who someone is hiding information about her death.
“It’s pretty clear that Cami Shepherd was dumped in that drain,” Jensen said.
Jensen said police know someone has been accessing Shepherd’s social media accounts after her death, likely from her own cell phone.
West Valley City homicide detectives told 2News on Monday that the medical examiner could not determine a cause of Shepherd’s death and that the case is still considered a suspicious death. Police, however, indicated they have no solid leads in the case.
Jensen wonders if there was some sort of an accident and someone panicked before dumping Shepherd’s body in the drain. If that’s the case, he says, the person would be smart to come forward immediately and offer an explanation.
“It’s just a matter of time that they’ll be caught, so they need to come forward and we can mitigate the damages,” he said.
Cami’s sister Kristin Rumsey spoke with 2News Monday afternoon, saying Cami’s death is still unbearable for her family members.
“More question arise as time has gone by and that has made it hard to grieve and move forward for us,” Rumsey said.
Shepherd vanished in December 2017. She was last seen near her apartment at 3800 South Redwood Road.
Her family found her apartment in disarray and immediately began distributing missing persons posters all across the valley.
“We grew frantic as the months went on searching for Cami,” Rumsey said.
The call came on April 6, 2018 that a body was found in a drain behind Cami’s apartment complex. Police recovered her body and positively identified her, but that is where the answers stopped for her family.
“We know someone was there. We just beg someone to let us know what happened,” Rumsey said. “We need answers for closure of what happened and why, and, mainly, most of all, who put her in that drain?”
Anyone with information about Cami Shepherd’s death or the events leading up to her disappearance is asked to call private investigator Jason Jensen at 801-759-2248 and West Valley City Police at 801-840-4000.
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