WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah (ABC4) – Police are asking the public to keep an eye out for the body of a missing 99-year-old woman who is suspected of being murdered in Nov. 2021.
West Valley City Police says Maren Carlson is suspected of being murdered by her grandson, Garman Shaun Cunningham, 51.
Authorities believe Carlson’s body may have been dumped in the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest near SR-150 (Mirror Lake Highway) or SR-35. Police are asking those who spend time in the Kamas area to “keep an eye out for evidence in a homicide case.”
On Nov. 12, 2021, police received reports that a woman had escaped from her home after her husband, Cunningham, had allegedly held her hostage for several days. She told police Cunningham had also murdered his grandmother, Carlson, during that period.
Carlson lived with her grandson at the time and has not been located since Nov. 2021.
Carlson is described as 4 feet 11 inches, weighing 85 lbs with white hair. She was last seen wearing light pink pajamas with a floral design on them while possibly wearing a robe.
Investigators believe there could be a black garbage bag in the Kamas area that “could hold evidentiary value.”
Multiple agencies have responded to the case including investigators from the West Valley City Police, the Summit County Sheriff’s Office, the Wasatch County Sheriff’s Office and multiple cadaver dog teams without success in locating Carlson.
“Cunningham was charged by the Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office in December 2021 with aggravated murder and aggravated kidnapping, both first-degree felonies; obstructing justice, a second-degree felony; two counts of aggravated assault, and three counts of illegal discharge of a firearm, both third-degree felonies,” authorities say.
Officials confirm Cunningham later died by suicide in March 2022 while in police custody.
Anyone who finds evidence or has details about the case is asked to take note of the coordinates where the evidence was found and contact West Valley City Police at (801) 840-4000.
