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Libby Stimpson search along Weber River on pause, but efforts not over

By Tim Vandenack - | Jun 23, 2023

Photo supplied, Mattie Heiner

Libby Stimpson is pictured in an undated photo.

The active search for Libby Stimpson appears to have been put on pause, at least for now.

“Unfortunately, we have not recovered her body,” said Mattie Heiner, Stimpson’s sister. Stimpson went missing on May 1, 2023, and is believed to have been swept away in the Weber River while walking her two dogs along the banks of the waterway in the Uintah area.

Efforts aren’t over, however, and Heiner hopes a window of opportunity opens for Weber County Search and Rescue officials to resume active search efforts when the Weber River water level drops, perhaps later in the summer as the snowmelt tapers. The heavy snow accumulation in mountainous areas over the winter has pushed river levels up here and elsewhere along the Wasatch Front.

“They’re not giving up,” Heiner said.

A rep from the Weber County Sheriff’s Office, which overseas the search and rescue team, didn’t immediately respond to a query Friday seeking comment.

Tim Vandenack, Standard-Examiner

A message reading "Pray For Libby," affixed to fencing along the Weber River under the Adams Avenue Parkway bridge, is photographed Friday, June 23, 2023. Stimpson is believed to have been swept away by the river on May 1, 2023.

Just as the presence of search and rescue team members along the Weber River in the Uintah area has seemed to fade, at least for now, so have the volunteers who had been monitoring the waterway around the clock for clues into Stimpson’s disappearance. The volunteers had stood vigil on the Adams Avenue Parkway bridge over the Weber River and at a pedestrian crossing further west in the weeks after Stimpson’s May 1 disappearance. Both crossings, though, were void of observers on Friday.

A source close to the family, who asked not to be named, said if Stimpson’s body hasn’t surfaced at this point, “science” indicates it probably won’t, hence the apparent decision to put things on hold, at least until the Weber River water level dips.

The Weber River water level at Interstate 84 in Uintah was at about 7.5-feet deep as of Friday, lower than the 10.7-feet measurement on May 1, but still higher than the range of 4.9-feet to around 6-feet deep during the summer of 2022. The figures come from the U.S. Geological Survey.

Meantime, Heiner said she and other friends and family members who knew and loved Stimpson do what they can to contend with the loss. “It’s kind of like life moves forward, but you can’t move forward,” she said.

Sales of T-shirts with the legend “It’s weird not to be weird” — a favorite saying of Stimpson’s, according to Heiner — generated around $2,000. Stimpson’s friend and business partner, Kenzie Norton, donated the funds to the theater program at Bonneville High School, Stimpson’s alma mater. Stimpson and Norton founded the company that printed the shirts, Wild Wander.

Tim Vandenack, Standard-Examiner

A message reading "Pray 4 Libby" along the Adams Avenue Parkway bridge over the Weber River is photographed Friday, June 23, 2023. Stimpson is believed to have been swept away by the river on May 1, 2023.

The Weber River near the Adams Avenue Parkway bridge, photographed Friday, June 23, 2023.

Part of a message reading "Pray 4 Libby" along the Adams Avenue Parkway bridge over the Weber River is photographed Friday, June 23, 2023. Stimpson is believed to have been swept away by the river on May 1, 2023.

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