This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

As stories of assaults on remote mountain trails go, it was a rather screwy tale.

Utah County Sheriff's Sgt. Spencer Cannon said a man called 911 dispatchers at 1:10 p.m. Wednesday, claiming he had been stabbed and robbed while walking on a trail a mile up Hobble Creek Canyon.

Within minutes, Springville police officers and sheriff's deputies arrived on the scene and found the 34-year-old man — a screwdriver stuck in his lower back — lying on the trail, face-down.

He told them he had been attacked by two men, after which he fainted. However, law officers found no one matching the suspects' descriptions — one wearing a ski mask, the other a stocking cap.

They also found no evidence of there having been a struggle of any kind at the scene.

The man was taken to the hospital, having a minor laceration over an eye, in addition to the 3-inch puncture wound. He was treated for what were deemed minor injuries and later released.

While still in the hospital, however, the man had grown increasingly leery of investigators' questions and suddenly refused to answer without having a lawyer.

"Based on the lack of evidence, we now believe the stab wound was self-inflicted," Cannon said on Thursday. "We don't know exactly why he may have done this to himself, but there are no outstanding suspects."

Other than saying the man "has a history" with the law, Cannon would not further speculate specifically on the man's motives.

However, he acknowledged mental health, among other possible issues, were being considered.

Twitter: @remims