Just over three months after two Utah teenagers disappeared and died together in Utah’s West Desert, family and friends will lay the couple to rest Saturday in the first of two joint services.
Brelynne “Breezy” Otteson, 17, and boyfriend Riley Powell, 18, had been dating about four months when they disappeared early Dec. 30 near Eureka.
After months of searching for any trace of the teenagers, police found their bodies March 28 inside an abandoned mineshaft just outside the former silver mining town, where the two lived together before their deaths.
Saturday’s service starts at 11 a.m. at Tintic High School, 525 E. Main St. in Eureka.
Family and friends have said Riley was a hardworking and loyal young man, who found the love and acceptance he’d always yearned for in his relationship with Breezy.
(Courtesy Dalton-Hoopes Funeral Home) Riley Powell
“Riley brought joy to those around him with his shy smile and quick wits. Riley’s big heart often showed as he went out of his way to make others happy,” according to his obituary.
Breezy, who had lived in Tooele, was known for her “larger than life” personality, according to her obituary. Her sister, Kylysta Otteson, has told The Salt Lake Tribune that no one who was in the same room as Breezy ever forgot her.
(Courtesy Amanda Hunt) Breezy Otteson
The couple were allegedly bound, stabbed and dumped into a mine as retribution for visiting Riley’s friend, Morgan Henderson, without the consent of her boyfriend, Jerrod Baum. Baum is charged with murder and other offenses in connection with the teens’ death, and Henderson has been charged with lying to police about the teens’ deaths.
A second memorial service for the two is scheduled for 11 a.m. on April 14 at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, at 180 S. Coleman St. in Tooele.