42 Years After She Was Found Dead Near A Road She Finally Has Been Identified And Given Her Name Back
Salt Lake City, Utah. 37-year-old Sandra Matott vanished back in 1979 and her husband was the one that reported her as missing to the police.
It was July 18th, 1979 when Sandra’s husband, Warren Matott, told the Salt Lake City Police Department that Sandra went missing eight days prior to him reporting her.
Warren said that Sandra was last at a Salt Lake City bar before she simply disappeared. As investigators began looking into Sandra’s disappearance, there wasn’t much for them to go on.
And then, a detective at the time tried to follow up with Warren about Sandra’s case, but the detective could not get a hold of Warren.
Salt Lake City Police Department; pictured above is Sandra Matott
One month and one day after Warren had first contacted the authorities about Sandra being missing, several people that were out hunting came across the remains of a woman near a road named Old 91.
“There were no signs of homicidal violence to the skeletal remains,” the Salt Lake City Police Department explained in a press release. “At the scene, investigators located two pieces of jewelry, a ring and a watch.”
Salt Lake City Police Department; pictured above are the watch and ring that were found on the woman’s body
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“Due to the suspicious circumstances, the Millard County Sheriff’s Office opened a homicide investigation,” the Salt Lake City Police Department continued.
Unfortunately, the Utah Medical Examiner’s Office was never able to figure out exactly how this poor woman dumped by the road had died.
Her name remained a mystery as well for the authorities, although in 1984 it seemed there was a break in this now cold case.
The serial killer named Henry Lee Lucas actually confessed to murdering the woman found on Old 91, but the problem with Henry was that he admitted to murdering hundreds of people and then took back what he said.
In the end, detectives just could not confirm that this woman was a victim of Henry’s, and again, the case went cold.
In January of 2013, a detective was re-assigned to the case of Sandra, and it was clear she still could not be found anywhere.
This detective uploaded Sandra’s information to different databases and began to investigate what had happened to her.
The detective spoke with Sandra’s family that summer, and Sandra’s loved ones made it clear that they were convinced Sandra’s husband Warren had caused her disappearance.
They also revealed that they thought that Warren had murdered her, but since Warren had passed away on October 11th, 1999, it wasn’t possible for him to be questioned by the authorities.
Several more years went by without any answers until the Millard County Sheriff’s Office contacted the Salt Lake City Police Department on November 25th of 2019.
The Millard County Sheriff’s Office brought up the case of the woman who had been found dead by Old 91, and they believed she could be Sandra.
Several months later, the remains of the woman were sent out to the University of North Texas so that they could be tested for DNA.
On August 13th of this year, the Salt Lake City Police Department sat down with Sandra’s family to tell them that she was the Jane Doe found on Old 91.
Detectives also clarified that they suspected Warren knew far more about Sandra’s death and disappearance than he ever let on, but they never could piece together enough evidence to give them the probable cause needed to officially charge him.
Sandra’s case has now made history as the oldest missing persons cold case that the Salt Lake City Police Department was able to close.
After finally learning the truth about Sandra, her son Darrell Haymes said, “We are happy the case is now closed because it brings us some answers.”
“As a family, we are happy about this development, but also sad it took this long. Forty-two years is a long time.”
“We are happy that the investigators never closed the case and continued to work on it so we could reach this point.”
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