This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2007, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Posted: 7:40 PM-
Two teenagers who took the bike believed to belong to missing BYU student Camille Cleverley said it was broken down and seemed to have been abandoned.
"The tires were flat and the brakes didn't work too well," said Benjamin Marks, 19, who was "hanging around" in Provo Canyon early last Sunday with his friend, Patricia Madsen, 17, when they found the Schwinn. It was locked to a bike rack off the road at Bridal Veil Falls.
"We were calling out, 'Hello, is anyone else out here?'" said Marks.
The teens said no one answered and they reasoned the owner was not rock climbing in the middle of the night. So they decided the bike was abandoned.
Marks figured someone was bound to steal it if it just sat there, "So I decided to take it," he said Sunday. The Orem man, a mechanic, cut off the lock with a tool from his car.
For three days, the bike sat in his garage while he removed its parts to fix up his own bike. Then on Wednesday, Marks said he happened to flip on the television and see a police photo of Cleverley's bike - a silver and purple bike identical to the one he had found. He felt sick.
"I didn't know what to do or say. I couldn't even breathe. I just knew it was her bike," he said.
Marks said he immediately called Madsen and they agreed they had to turn over the bike to police. They also told their parents. Marks said his mother chewed him out for hours for the incident.
Madsen's father didn't want the teens to turn over the bike without a lawyer, so they contacted Salt Lake City defense attorney Catherine Cleveland early Thursday morning.
"We were really scared," said Marks.
"We were most worried about the girl," said Madsen. "We had the only piece of evidence in her disappearance. We knew we had to turn it in."
The teens were also worried that police weren't searching the canyon.
After the Utah County Attorney promised immunity from any prosecution, police seized the bike and its parts. Officers also took the teens back up Provo Canyon to discover exactly where they found it and what they did with it.
They wanted to make sure the teens weren't involved in Cleverley's disappearance, said Marks. Cleverley, a 22-year-old Brigham Young University senior, was reported missing after she left on a bike ride Aug. 30.
The questioning by police "was kind of uncomfortable, but it felt better to tell them exactly what you did and why you did it. It was better than to lie about it and make a fool of myself," said Marks. "They were pretty understanding about it."
Police have not been able to confirm the bike belonged to Cleverley. Papers in her apartment did not include a serial number for the bike, police said. Officers are hoping Schwinn can provide a list of bikes sent to Provo-area stores to see if the bike could have been Cleverley's.
Marks and Madsen said they regret taking the bike.
"I know it's wrong what I did. I shouldn't have taken it in the first place," said Marks. On the other hand, he said he is proud that he and Madsen had the courage to turn over the bike rather than destroy it or keep it secret.
"We're not bad people. We're good people who made a bad decision and we're trying to make it right," said Madsen.
What disturbs them most, they said, is that if they hadn't taken the bike it might have been found earlier.
"Our thoughts and prayers are with the family. We can't imagine what they're going through right now," said Madsen.