Emery County Sheriff’s Office helps recover officer’s body

By Patsy Stoddard Editor

Emery County Sheriff Greg Funk said the Emery County Sheriff’s Office has been involved in the search for Deputy Jedediah Steadman since the beginning. The family has a residence in Emery as well as the city and they are in the area frequently. Steadman, 34, left his home Tuesday morning, Dec. 30, 2014 in a navy blue, 1998 Dodge pickup. Searches were conducted in the Salt Lake area as well as rural locations. Steadman is an avid outdoorsman and Sheriff Funk said searches were conducted in Joe’s Valley and Huntington Canyon. Sheriff Funk said, “On Dec. 30 we received a phone call from the West Jordan police department. They asked us to check the home in Emery. Deputies responded to the residence and there were no tracks in the snow, nor evidence that anyone had been there. The doors were locked. Then on Jan. 1, the Department of Public Safety helicopter came to the area and we searched by air the entire area.
We checked the Muddy and the Quitchupah, but we didn’t find anything. Yesterday morning at about 10:30 a.m. we received a phone call from a trapper in the area that saw a place where a vehicle had gone off the road. The truck was at the bottom of a steep canyon. The location is Link Canyon and it is in Sevier County. Not far from the town of Emery. We contacted Sevier County and they send their rescue team to aid as well.
“The driver of the vehicle was deceased. It was a lengthy rescue process because the pick-up was so far into the canyon. The cause of the accident is believed to be failure to negotiate a turn and the vehicle went down approximately 120 feet and landed at the bottom. The accident investigation is being handled by Sevier County. I would like to express our appreciation to our rope team on this rescue. It was very difficult for everyone. Those who aided this day included: Ross Christiansen, Jim Byars, Deputy Tyson Huntington, Ken Eley, Ben Orgill along with Deputy Shaun Bell and Detective Jerod Curtis. We are speculating that the vehicle went off on the same day Officer Steadman went missing. The vehicle was a navy blue, 1998 Dodge pickup and it was found upside down in the canyon,” reported Sheriff Funk.