A shed hunter who found human stays in Utah’s distant Hansel Mountains late final month has supplied regulation enforcement with key proof in an unsolved lacking particular person’s case. The stays have been recognized as Matthew Jay Broncho, a Shoshone-Bannock man who was reported lacking from Idaho in March 2019.
The Field Elder County Sheriff’s Workplace obtained phrase on April 27, 2024, {that a} shed hunter, whose identify has not been made public, had found skeletal stays in northeast Utah, based on a press release from the agency on Friday. Officers from the sheriff’s workplace joined the Utah Workplace of the Medical Examiner and the Field Elder County Search and Rescue Staff to find the stays on the slopes southeast of Snowville, between the Idaho state line and the Nice Salt Lake. The groups recovered the stays and recognized them on the Workplace of the Medical Examiner utilizing dental information.
“We prolong our condolences to the household of Matthew Broncho,” chief deputy sheriff Cade Palmer mentioned in a press release. “Though that is tough information to obtain and there are nonetheless unanswered questions, we hope they will discover some consolation in understanding that he has been discovered.”
It’s not instantly clear how Broncho might have died or if he died on the location the place his physique was found. The case stays an lively investigation and the sheriff’s workplace has declined to launch any additional data, together with whether or not officers suspect foul play.
In line with a Facebook fundraiser Broncho, then 34, was final seen at his residence on the Fort Corridor Reservation of the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes in late winter 2019 (the precise date isn’t clear). There was no indication that Broncho had deliberate to go away residence for an prolonged interval and, by March 22, 2019, his mom had grown fearful sufficient to trace his cellular phone “utilizing GPS.” She traced it to his pickup truck, a darkish grey Toyota Tacoma that was parked on the I-84 Exit 7 ramp close to Snowville. Broncho’s cellular phone and pockets containing his driver’s license, tribal ID, and financial institution playing cards have been discovered locked contained in the car.
Though the fundraiser states Broncho’s mom contacted the Field Elder County Sheriff’s Workplace dispatch that day on March 22, 2019, the sheriff’s workplace said in its launch that they obtained phrase of Broncho’s disappearance two days afterward March 24 from the Fort Corridor Police Division. A search was carried out by 50-plus members of a number of regulation enforcement companies, tribal officers, associates, household, and volunteers with out success. Broncho’s canine, a 3-year-old crimson Dachshund, was found close to the I-84 Exit 5 ramp on March 27, 2019, wandering a number of miles west of the place the truck was discovered.
“Since his disappearance, a joint investigation between the Field Elder County Sheriff’s Workplace and the Fort Corridor Police Division has been ongoing,” Palmer mentioned.
Broncho had beforehand participated in Shoshone-Bannock relay and rodeo occasions and had run for Land Use Commissioner within the Tribe’s normal election the 12 months earlier than he went lacking.
“We kindly request privateness and respect as we come to phrases with the lack of our beloved Matthew,” KM Clelan Ephraim, who recognized herself as Broncho’s cousin, wrote in a Facebook post Friday. “We’re grateful for the assist and love of our household and associates who helped in our 5 12 months seek for Matthew. We discover solace understanding that we’re surrounded by caring people who contributed and supplied prayer.”
The general public announcement on Friday that Broncho had been recognized coincided with the Biden Administration’s proclamation that Lacking and Murdered Indigenous Individuals Consciousness Day will now be noticed on Could 5 every year.
