This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2013, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Searchers on Saturday found the body of a Clinton man who was missing in Willard Bay.
Utah State Parks Lt. Eric Stucki confirmed the body of Brigham Bradley, 32, was discovered just after 5 p.m. near the spot where friends discovered his personal watercraft Friday afternoon.
Bradley, a corrections officer for the Weber County Sheriff's Office, vanished sometime after 2 p.m. Friday, when his watercraft broke down and his friends left to get towing equipment. Bradley was off-duty at the time. When his friends returned, Bradley was gone, but his craft remained. He was not wearing a life jacket.
Bradley's mother, Cheryl Bradley, said her son and his girlfriend were helping some friends who went to the bay to test-drive some personal watercraft. Bradley had not originally planned to ride the watercraft himself, which is why he wasn't wearing a life jacket at the time. Cheryl Bradley said she was told that the water's conditions turned choppy and that her son may have been knocked off while he was waiting by himself.
Bradley had worked for Weber County since 2001 as an emergency medical technician in the jail's medical unit. For the past few years, Bradley also worked part time for the Syracuse Fire Department. Firefighting was his "first love," Cheryl Bradley said.
"He was always that way," she said. "He wanted to help."
Many members of Bradley's family congregated with the many teams of emergency workers who had turned out for the search. While the family is still reeling from the news of his death, they all felt a wide system of support from the law enforcement and first responders waiting with them on the shore, Cheryl Bradley said.
A funeral for Bradley will likely take place on Friday or Saturday in Clinton, his mother said. He is survived by three brothers and one sister.
Stucki said sonar equipment from the Box Elder County Sheriff's Office helped searchers find Bradley's body in under 10 feet of water. The body will now be turned over to the Medical Examiner's Office in Salt Lake City for further examination.
Weber County Sheriff's Lt. Mark Lowther said as many as 50 people were searching Saturday, including personnel from various local law enforcement agencies, the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary and Utah State Parks.