UNITED STATES NEWS

‘The Letter’ details journey from Utah murder through grief to redemption

Sep 6, 2022, 4:00 PM

Yvette Rodier and Sy Snarr attend the funeral of Zachary Snarr. (Jeffrey D. Allred/Deseret News)...

Yvette Rodier and Sy Snarr attend the funeral of Zachary Snarr. (Jeffrey D. Allred/Deseret News)

(Jeffrey D. Allred/Deseret News)

Listen to Episode 1 of The Letter here.

SALT LAKE CITY — Ron Snarr laughs at the memory before he even starts to share it.

It isn’t a joyful laughter. It’s the kind of laughter meant to mute the sharpest edges of pain he feels when he recalls the last day he saw his son alive.

“I get up and I go out, stretch and yawn, look out the window, see if it is raining or anything,” he said of waking up on Aug. 28, 1996, and shuffling through his Salt Lake City home. “And (Zach’s) sitting there on the couch. He says, ‘Dad, where’ve you been? I’ve been waiting for you.’ He’s sitting there all dressed ready to go.”

Ron chuckles, but his eyes begin to fill with tears.

“I said, ‘Zach, I’ll be right out.’ That’s just the type of guy he was, you know?” Snarr said of his 18-year-old son who was preparing to attend college in a week. “That’s what happened the morning he was gone. He says, ‘I’ve been waiting for you’ …  And I think he still is.”

Ron Snarr isn’t the only member of the family who clings to those final moments shared with Zachary Snarr before a 19-year-old stranger shot him and his friend, Yvette Rodier, as they prepared to take pictures of the rising full moon at Little Dell Reservoir. The random murder shocked Utah and shattered three families.

Memories sustain family members, years after murder

For Sy Snarr, her son’s last day alive will always be framed by a kindness he offered her. The mother of four teens rushed into the house between work and an evening appointment, and noticed something unusual right away.

“And I’d been gone all day and came through the back door, and I noticed my kitchen was spotless,” said Sy. “And I had not left that way. And Zach was standing right there. And I said, ‘Who cleaned my kitchen?’ And he said, ‘I did it for you, Mama.’ And I said, ‘Thanks, Zach!’ …You know, that was Zach.”

And then she pauses.

“The thing I do think a lot is why didn’t I stop and say, Zack, have I told you today, you’re the greatest?” she said. “I said thank you, at least; I noticed, and I’m glad. But why didn’t I stop and hug him? That was the last time I ever saw him.”

For his older sister Sydney Snarr Davis, that last memory captured her brother’s unique and playful sense of humor.

She was riding her bike home from the bakery where she’d worked between her freshman and sophomore year at Utah State University.

“All of a sudden, I just heard this honking, crazy honking, and I looked up and Zach was driving opposite (direction) of me,” Syd recalls with a smile. “And he had his body hanging out the front window of the car. And he was just laying on the horn and he had his fist up in the air like this victory.”

She raises her fist to demonstrate, and then laughs again at the picture in her mind.

“He was just like, “WHAAA!” … as he drove by, and I remember just going, ‘You’re a dork’,” she said. “And then he just kept going, and I shook my head and rolled my eyes and just kept going home.”

And then she pauses.

“But that was the last time I saw him.”

“The Letter” podcast details Utah murder, aftermath

Just a few hours after Zach made his sister laugh one last time, a man he’d never met opened fire on him and Rodier as they set up camera equipment on the shores of Little Dell Reservoir in Emigration Canyon. Zach was killed instantly. Yvette survived and crawled to the highway where passersby summoned police.

Random shootings were rare back then, and the murder sent shockwaves throughout Utah.

“It frightened a lot of people,” said retired Salt Lake County Sheriff’s Detective Keith Stephens of the shooting. “It was just so horrific. …A lot of times when a shooting first happens, the media other people, it’s a very hot topic for a minute, and then people go about their business and dissipate and go about their business and forget about it…This circumstance where two teenage kids were doing what teenage kids do…They were here enjoying themselves – good, clean, wholesome kids – every parent’s nightmare, every parent’s nightmare. So that’s what I think really sent those shockwaves out.”

The Snarrs and Rodier revisit the agony of that night in a new podcast from KSL called “The Letter” – but only to shed light on the lasting impacts of grief and the realities of trying to reclaim one’s life after it’s been shattered by violence.

And, for the Snarr family, it’s also about a gift they never expected – a letter from the man who killed their son.

United States News

Valentine's Day roses are unwrapped after being inspected by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agr...

Associated Press

Roses are red, violets are blue, 940 million flowers are traveling (through Miami) to you

MIAMI (AP) — If any husbands or boyfriends mess up Valentine’s Day this week, it’s not because of a shortage of flowers. In the run up to Feb. 14, agricultural specialists at Miami International Airport have processed about 940 million stems of cut flowers, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Around 90% of the […]

3 hours ago

Maryland Department of Transportation employees use a backhoe to load a truck with salt at the Stat...

Associated Press

Virginia governor declares storm emergency as snow and ice bear down on mid-Atlantic states

A wintry mess was bearing down on mid-Atlantic states Tuesday with forecasts of significant snow and ice accumulations prompting warnings of potential power outages. The National Weather Service said travel would become treacherous Tuesday through early Wednesday in much of Virginia and West Virginia. Virginia Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin on Monday declared a state of […]

4 hours ago

FILE - Author Salman Rushdie poses for a portrait to promote his book "Knife: Meditations After an ...

Associated Press

Testimony in trial of man accused of trying to kill Salman Rushdie heads into 2nd day

Testimony is set to continue Tuesday in the trial of the man charged with stabbing famed author Salman Rushdie in a frenzied knife attack on a western New York stage. Jurors in the trial of Hadi Matar, 27, on Monday heard from staffers at the arts institution where Rushdie was set to give a speech […]

4 hours ago

FILE - Elon Musk speaks as part of a campaign town hall in support of Republican presidential nomin...

Associated Press

How Elon Musk’s crusade against government could benefit Tesla

WASHINGTON (AP) — Elon Musk has long railed against the U.S. government, saying a crushing number of federal investigations and safety programs have stymied Tesla, his electric car company, and its efforts to create fleets of robotaxis and other self-driving automobiles. Now, Musk’s close relationship with President Donald Trump means many of those federal headaches […]

4 hours ago

FILE - Linda McMahon speaks during an America First Policy Institute gala at his Mar-a-Lago estate,...

Associated Press

Trump’s education chief comes from the boardroom, not the classroom. Backers say that’s her strength

WASHINGTON (AP) — Linda McMahon once described herself as an outsider stepping into the world of education, a business leader with an “inquiring mind” who would challenge the status quo and demand more for students. That was 15 years ago, when McMahon was beginning a stint on the Connecticut Board of Education. But her backers […]

4 hours ago

Students interact in a fourth grade classroom at William Jefferson Clinton Elementary in Compton, C...

Associated Press

America’s kids are still behind in reading and math. These schools are defying the trend

COMPTON, Calif. (AP) — Math is the subject sixth grader Harmoni Knight finds hardest, but that’s changing. In-class tutors and “data chats” at her middle school in Compton, California, have made a dramatic difference, the 11-year-old said. She proudly pulled up a performance tracker at a tutoring session last week, displaying a column of perfect […]

4 hours ago

Sponsored Articles

...

Asset Preservation Wealth & Tax

How to optimize the most money in 2024 tax returns

As tax season begins, getting your financials in order is important to maximize your tax return.

...

Bright Wealth Management

How to start your retirement planning early and avoid costly mistakes

Retirement planning can feel overwhelming, but with the right guidance, you can avoid costly pitfalls.

...

Sanderson Ford

Sanderson Ford’s Operation Santa Claus: Spreading holiday cheer through pickleball

Phoenix, AZ – Sanderson Ford, a staple in the Arizona community, is once again gearing up for its annual Operation Santa Claus charity drive.

‘The Letter’ details journey from Utah murder through grief to redemption