Cami Shepherd’s body was found in Utah in April of 2018 after it was reported to West Valley City Police by an engineer who found it in an underground drainage culvert chamber behind a Kmart. The body was decomposed when it was found and no obvious signs of trauma were found. The culvert lids were solid, heavy doors that were flush with the roadway behind the store, and were in place when the body was found. Cami’s body was found in the culvert chamber which was underneath the heavier of the two doors. Her phone went missing before she disappeared and may have been used to post on her Facebook account even after her body was discovered.
The cause of death was listed as “Undetermined” but without any clear suspects, the Police have closed the case. The explanation given to her family was that Cami must have climbed into the culvert to escape the elements and drowned (her autopsy also revealed methamphetamines in her system). However, the culvert was little more than 600 feet away from Cami’s front doorstep, and evidence at the site make it seem unlikely that she would have been able to open the culvert lid, place it back over the opening over her head, and die accidentally while trapped under the heavier of the two lids.
There may be DNA evidence on a set of keys, acquaintances, or others that could have information about Cami around the time of her disappearance, and other leads that we can investigate to find out what happened to her.
