SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) – Now that the remains of
Amy Westreicher have been officially confirmed, the investigation into her death is continuing.
Last week, the
Duchesne County Sheriff’s Office confirmed human remains found by a landowner were those of Westreicher who disappeared in 2010.
“The circumstances of Amy’s disappearance is currently being investigated,” the sheriff’s office said in a Facebook post.
But Westreicher’s friend and the
Cold Case Coalition, a non-profit group believed foul play was involved.
Westreicher was staying with some friends in 2010 but that winter disappeared. She was staying with her friends in an RV camper in rural Duchesne County.
For the past 12 years, her whereabouts remained unknown. That is until last week.
Since Westreicher’s disappearance, Connie Case, who befriended her, refused to accept that she just vanished.
“It was a range of mixed emotions,” Case told ABC4. “First I cried, then it made me feel horrible knowing that we were so close and we never found her. I mean she was right there.”
Two years ago, she invited the Cold Case Coalition to the land where Westreicher was staying. Case’s brother actually owned the land.
Case suspected she was killed by one of the two people she was staying with at the RV camper. In 2020, Case told
ABC4 about her confrontation with the man living in the RV camper.
Case said she was trying to learn what happened to Westreicher.
“The girls started fighting and Amy wouldn’t shut up and she was just annoying, and I threw her on the bed and started choking her,” Case recalled the man telling her. “Then I realized what I was doing and let her up and I let her go.”
Case said the man claimed Westreicher left the camper in the middle of winter. Case said all her possessions including her cellphone remained in the camper.
“It became obvious, with anyone choosing to walk from there in the middle of the freezing night made no sense whatsoever,” said Karra Porter during a
podcast of the Cold Case Coalition.
The coalition was also skeptical of the man’s story and in 2020 started draining the pond in search of Westreicher’s body. But COVID-19 shut down their efforts to find Westreicher.
But Connie Case never gave up. She continued to pressure the man and his girlfriend into telling her what happened. She said they eventually said Westreicher went to a nearby home after she left the camper.
The coalition questioned the people in the home and claimed Westreicher never appeared at their door in 2010.
“Connie wouldn’t let it go,” said Tom Harvey with the coalition. “Connie just kept pressing them and pressing them for answers and that’s how the story came out — that [man] admitted that he had choked [Amy].”
Case said her own son’s death played a role in her determination to get answers for Westreicher’s family.
“I felt relief for her family,” said Case. “I felt excited for her family that they could finally know what happened, know where she was at, instead of sitting there and wondering.”
Case did forward the names of the man and woman who were with Westreicher in 2010.
Meanwhile, the Duchesne County Sheriff’s Office is interested in talking with anyone with information about Amy’s disappearance. They can be reached at 435-738-2015 or email
[email protected].
