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Nearly 50 years ago, a puzzling earthquake beneath northern Utah jolted scientists’ understanding of how Earth works. Now, research from the University of Utah confirms that the mysterious event was real, and part of a rare class of earthquakes occurring far deeper beneath the continental crust than scientists once believed possible.

In the early morning hours of Feb. 24, 1979, the University of Utah Seismograph Stations recorded the quake under Randolph, a Utah town near the Idaho and Wyoming borders. No one reported feeling the quake, despite its magnitude 3.8 heft, and the accompanying seismic data didn’t make sense.

George Zandt, then a postdoctoral seismology researcher at the U, took a closer look at the seismic readings and pinpointed this quake’s focal depth at a jaw-dropping 90 kilometers below sea level. Such a depth was not thought possible, placing its hypocenter far below Earth’s crust, well into the upper mantle.

“The deep depth explained why it wasn’t felt by people at the surface,” said Zandt, who went on to a long career on the University of Arizona’s geology faculty. “I did some other analysis that convinced me of the reality of the deep depth, but it was hard to convince others of the highly anomalous mantle earthquake occurring in a region where none should exist.”

Fresh look at old data

He wrote an abstract about the Randolph quake for Earthquake Notes, but Zandt’s findings remained largely unnoticed until last year. That’s when a new generation of U seismologists re-evaluated waveform data from the 1979 quake and eight other suspected deep earthquakes that have since occurred in northern Utah and southwest Wyoming.

That study, led by U geology professor Keith Koper and published in Geophysical Research Letters last May, confirmed locations for all nine well below Earth’s crust, proving the existence of what are called “continental mantle earthquakes,” or CMEs. Then on Sept. 10, 2025, another one struck at around 6 p.m. outside Maeser in Utah’s Uinta Basin, clocking in at magnitude 4.1 with a focal depth of 68 kilometers.

That’s more than 20 kilometers below the Mohorovičić discontinuity, the boundary separating Earth’s crust from the underlying mantle, better known as the Moho. Koper’s team characterized the Maeser quake as an “archetypal continental mantle event” in a subsequent study published last month in The Seismic Record.

“This is an example of an earthquake that’s nucleating in very unusual conditions, the high temperature, the high pressure, and almost all the material at that depth is going to flow. It’s more like taffy, it’s taffy on long time scales, like millions of years,” said Koper, a one-time protege of Zandt’s and now the director of the U of U Seismograph Stations. “Nevertheless, you can still see it in rocks that have made their way back up to the surface; you can see how they were stretched.”

Zandt came out of retirement to work on this study, which lists him as a co-author.

A completely different kind of earthquake

To locate the spots where earthquakes originate, seismologists analyze how long it takes different types of seismic waves to reach seismographs on the surface. The differences in arrival times provide vital clues. The Seismograph Stations have long preserved such data, creating a valuable archive that Koper’s graduate student Sean Hutchings tapped to analyze known deep quakes and find several others that had been mischaracterized as crustal quakes.

“It’s sort of a mystery in terms of fundamental physics. How in the world can these things happen?” Koper said. “Another reason why it’s a big deal is that we have no idea how big they can be. With crustal earthquakes, we can measure what we think their maximum size is going to be. We measure the faults that we can map out near the surface. We can measure the length of a fault segment and that clues us into how big it can be, which helps us estimate seismic hazard.”

The two papers found several traits in common that distinguish these deep quakes from the familiar ones commonly occurring along faults near the surface. Principally, they occur in isolation—no aftershocks or foreshocks—near the edge of the Wyoming Craton, accompanied by extremely high temperatures, often exceeding 700°C. At those temperatures, rock is soft and ductile.

Cratons are ancient cohesive blocks of Earth’s lithosphere, which Koper likens to icebergs. Instead of bobbing in the ocean, however, cratons rest in Earth’s mantle like the keel of a boat in water. Located at the boundary of the tectonically active Western U.S. and the stable interior of the North American plate, the Wyoming Craton has been heavily eroded, resulting in a heterogeneous structure and an overall thinning of the lithosphere westward across Idaho and Utah. This is where the deep quakes have occurred.

“On the scale of millions of years, the mantle is hitting the craton and then flowing around it,” Koper said. “It’s that interaction where that mantle flow is being diverted around this hard cratonic root that’s causing the increased strain rate, the increased deformation and it’s also creating extra stresses. We think it’s that interaction between the keel of the iceberg and the medium around it that’s leading to these earthquakes.”

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Lisa Lock

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Robert Egan

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Two baby brothers allegedly kidnapped by their Utah dad were found safe some 800 miles away across the border in Mexico, according to police.

Will Richman, 1, and his 10-month-old brother, Wesley Richman, were located in San Felipe, Mexico on Tuesday, concluding a frantic search after the boys were taken by their cash-strapped dad, Dan Stephen Richman, according to police.

The dad, who had just quit his job and sold off his possessions, was taken into custody.

Earlier this week, the brothers’ mother, who is in a custody dispute with Richman, begged him publicly to surrender to police.

“Please, just take the boys somewhere safe,” she said in a video posted on social media.

The boys were reported missing on Saturday after Richman did not show up for a custody exchange to hand the kids back over to Tomich, Fox 13 reported. 

He was scheduled to appear for a deposition on Friday, but Tomich said she learned just minutes before that he was not attending and had fired his lawyer.

The desperate mom’s calls and texts went unanswered and police conducted a welfare check at Richman’s Saratoga Springs home but found it completely empty.

“When we learned this, we knew something was wrong,” Tomich said.

“He has left with almost everything he has with the clear intention of not returning with these children,” she added.

Tomich revealed she was especially anxious because Richman was outdoorsy and would be comfortable living off the grid.

Richman eventually replied and said he was camping with the boys as investigators began to believe he crossed the San Diego border into Mexico after tracking his phone there.

Officials said the boys were in danger due to Richman’s erratic behavior in the previous weeks and an Amber alert was issued on Saturday.

Richman’s “financial situation was dire,” and he was “upside down” on his mortgage, forcing him to take out an additional line of credit on his home equity, according to an indictment.

The dad took out a second mortgage and gave away a motorcycle and truck to friends as collateral, KUTV reported.

Richman quit his job suddenly on May 11 and told his boss “he was unable to continue working due to the current ongoing legal battles with his ex-girlfriend over the custody of his children,” according to the indictment.

He is facing two charges of custodial interference.

ST. GEORGE, Utah (KSL) — A St. George man pleaded guilty and mentally ill to 28 felonies, including nine counts of attempted murder, following a shootout with police in front of his house that ended with his house catching fire.

Benjamin Lewis Hansen, 42, admitted he discharged a gun inside his home on July 8, 2025, and, after officers responded and the person who called 911 left the home, he fired outside toward the officers.

Hansen admitted he hit “several patrol vehicles” and forced officers to take cover. Six officers said he continued to shoot at them as they took cover and it is estimated he fired over 150 rounds, according to a plea statement.

“In addition to endangering the lives of many police officers, Hansen’s actions endangered the lives of the complainants, a civilian police ride-along, and residents throughout his neighborhood,” the statement said.

Police responded to 3000 E. Seegmiller Drive and called “the victim” outside before Hansen fired more shots.

RELATED | Utah man faces 51 criminal charges tied to shootout with police

One officer was forced to take cover behind a power pole, which was hit multiple times, and Hansen was firing from different positions on his home’s upper floor, according to charging documents. An armored vehicle was used to rip the garage door off, but Hansen only came out when the home was engulfed in flames.

Officers deployed a Taser to take him into custody, and he admitted to trying to start the fire with fireworks, shooting propane tanks, and trying to cut a gas line. Hansen said he was under the influence of both drugs and alcohol and used several different weapons, the charges state.

He pleaded guilty and mentally ill to nine counts of attempted murder, a first-degree felony; attempted arson, eight counts of assault on an officer and two counts of property damage, second-degree felonies; property damage, four counts of prohibited conduct with a firearm and two counts of discharge of a firearm, third-degree felonies; and three related misdemeanor charges.

Based on a plea agreement, prosecutors agreed to dismiss 20 additional counts of discharge of a firearm, a third-degree felony. They also agreed not to contest that Hansen had a mental health condition at the time of the offense.

In Utah, a guilty and mentally ill plea does not reduce the statutory sentencing guidelines for the charges, but it could qualify Hansen for mental health treatment.

Hansen is scheduled to be sentenced on Aug. 19. Before that, he will have a hearing on June 29, where 5th District Judge Jay Winward will consider whether he could benefit from supervision or treatment.

The post Utah man pleads guilty to 9 attempted murder charges from shootout with police appeared first on East Idaho News.

Two Utah toddlers at the center of an AMBER Alert have been found safe after a frantic search. Will Richman, two, and his 10-month old brother Wesley were located in San Felipe, Mexico.

Their father, Dane Richman, is now in custody, according to the FBI and Saratoga Springs Police Department.

Police previously said they believe that 46-year-old Richman—who had just quit his job, was facing financial troubles and was in a custody dispute over the two children—crossed the border from San Diego into Mexico last week.

Investigators think he may have been planning the abduction of the toddlers for weeks.

An AMBER Alert was issued for the two boys in Saratoga Springs, Utah, on Saturday, May 16. The alert said they were in “imminent danger of serious bodily harm or death” after their father allegedly failed to attend a custody exchange.

It described their father as “seriously depressed,” and under financial stress. The alert, issued by the Utah Department of Public Safety, said that he had been selling his possessions and had abandoned his home.

AMBER Alert Triggered After No-show

Richman had been identified as a suspect. The children’s mother contacted the police to request a welfare check on Thursday after Dane Richman missed a court-related deposition in an ongoing custody case, according to a report from KUTV.

The mother contacted police again on Saturday after the children were supposed to be returned in a custody exchange, and no one showed up. That call triggered the AMBER Alert.

The AMBER Alert states that “the first suspect is identified as Dane Stephen Richman. He is 6 feet 2 inches tall, weighing 195 pounds. He has brown hair and green eyes.”

The two boys have blonde hair and blue eyes. Will Richman is 2 feet 6 inches, and weighs about 31 Ibs. Wesley Richman is 2 feet 2 inches and weighs about 23 Ibs.

Authorities said that they were believed to be in a Black Toyota Camry with a Utah license plate A561HL, but noted that the vehicle could have a temporary tag and that the license plate may not be visible.

A woman named Kate Walters shared a post to Facebook and identified herself as a family member. “My sister’s children have been abducted,” she wrote in the post, adding: “Please, we need your help and prayers for these boys.”

What is an AMBER Alert?

An AMBER Alert—short for America’s Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response—is an emergency notification system designed to notify the public when a child is believed to have been abducted and faces imminent danger of serious injury or death.

When law enforcement confirms that a child under 17 has been taken and meets activation criteria, the alert is issued. It pushes details about the child, the suspected abductor, and any associated vehicle across multiple channels, including Wireless Emergency Alerts, TV and radio broadcasts, and highway message boards.

Since its launch, the AMBER Alert system has been credited with helping recover more than 1,000 missing children across the United States.

The goal is to enlist the public’s help in the critical early hours of an abduction. This gives law enforcement additional eyes and ears to aid in locating missing children and apprehending suspects. Officials emphasize that such alerts are time-sensitive and are often deployed within hours of an abduction to maximize the chances of safely recovering a child.

Update 05/27/26 10:35 a.m. ET: This article has been updated with additional information and the headline has been changed.

Update 05/26/26 3.05 a.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information.

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — Happy Tuesday, Utah! Our Tuesday afternoon will feature a mix of clouds and sunshine along with above-average temperatures.

Today’s weather:

A few high-based isolated storms could develop, bringing gusty winds and lightning to our mountain locations east of I-15. Keep an eye to the sky on Tuesday afternoon in these areas. Daytime highs on Tuesday will warm into the mid 80s across the Wasatch Front and lower 90s for SW Utah.

Get the latest Salt Lake City weather forecasts. View live doppler radar, & closings from the ABC4 Utah weather team.

As an area of low-pressure approaches Utah Tuesday into Wednesday, gusty southwest winds will begin to ramp up across western Utah. A Wind Advisory is in effect for western Utah to just west of I-15.

Southerly winds will likely be sustained between 20 and 35 mph, but wind gusts could top 50 mph in some locations. The gusty winds could also lead to areas of blowing dust and quickly reduced visibility.

Tomorrow’s weather:

The wind will likely lead to an elevated fire danger threat for the state Tuesday through Thursday. Dry vegetation, low relative humidity levels, and warm temperatures will combine with areas of gusty winds through midweek. 

Looking ahead:

A Red Flag warning is in effect for the San Rafael Swell, Grand Staircase, east Uinta Basin, and Book Cliffs from Wednesday until Thursday. Expect strong southerly winds of 20-30 mph with gusts of up to 50 mph across southern and eastern Utah with relative humidity values as low as 8-10%.  Any outside burning is strongly discouraged through late week across Utah. 

 View Utah Weather Radar in real time: CLICK HERE 

This storm system will be moving into a dry air mass and will not have a lot of moisture to work with. Still, isolated showers and rumbles may become possible across valley locations Thursday night into Friday.

These storms will be widely scattered and mainly focused on the northern portions of Utah. The low pressure looks to pull north and west of the area by this weekend, bringing drier air back to the state.

Stay with us for the latest updates from our 4Warn Weather forecast team on News4Utah+ and on abc4.com/utah-weather. We are Good4Utah!

Latest headlines:

Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

 For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to ABC4 Utah. 

A pair of Utah siblings believed to have been abducted by their father, whom authorities described as “seriously depressed,” and possibly taken to Mexico faces imminent danger, police said.

Saratoga Springs police were looking for Dane Stephen Richman, 46, as well as 1-year-old Will Richman and 10-month-old Wesley Richman.

Investigators said Richman had just quit his job, was having financial troubles and was in a custody dispute with his wife over the children. He may have been planning the abduction for weeks, authorities said, the Deseret News reported.

Authorities issued an Amber Alert over the weekend, saying the two boys were in danger and were taken by their father.

Man Accused Of Killing Partner Arrested In Mexico Nearly Two Years After Fleeing With Their Two Children

“THERE IS CONCERN FOR THE SAFETY AND WELL BEING OF THE CHILDREN AS THE SUSPECT HAS BEEN SERIOUSLY DEPRESSED, SELLING POSSESSIONS, FACING FINANCIAL STRESS, AND ABANDONED HIS HOME,” the alert states.

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Richman was charged Sunday with two counts of custodial interference, a third-degree felony. He picked the children up from their mother in Washington state on May 16 for his scheduled visitation time, the newspaper reported, noting that authorities initially said the abduction occurred in Saratoga Springs.

On Friday, the mother called the Saratoga Springs Police Department after Richman failed to appear at a scheduled deposition hearing.

Richman had apparently emailed his attorney that morning saying he no longer needed her services and wouldn’t be attending the scheduled hearing, according to charging documents cited by the newspaper.

Missing Connecticut Girl Found Alive 25 Years After Kidnapping With Help From Dna Testing

Richman’s home appeared to be vacant when police visited, authorities said.

“Given Dane’s financial situation as well as the fact that he appears to have abandoned his house to foreclosure, it seems that Dane has possibly been planning this attempt to kidnap the children several days if not multiple weeks in advance,” investigators wrote in the court documents.

On May 18, Richman’s 2025 Toyota Camry had some service done in Carlsbad, California, about 50 miles from the U.S.-Mexico border, authorities said.

Images taken from surveillance cameras identified Richman in Southern California, the report states.

On Sunday, a warrant was issued for Richman’s arrest.

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Police said they are in the process of having the Amber Alert shared throughout Mexico.

Anyone with information on Richman’s whereabouts is urged to call the Utah County Sheriff’s Office at 801-798-5600, or dial 911.

Original article source:Utah father charged with abducting 2 infant sons may have fled to Mexico, police say: ‘Seriously depressed’

A mom to two missing Utah boys has issued a desperate plea amid fears they may have been snatched by their dad, whom authorities have previously described as “seriously depressed.”

Lizzie Tomich’s voice cracked in a social media video as she begged for the safe return of Will Richman, 1, and 10-month-old Wesley, both of whom were last seen on May 16.

“Please, like, share, repost everything,” she said in the video.

Tomich co-parents her two children with Dane Stephen Richman, who lives in Utah, and he collected the brothers from her Sheldon, Washington, home as part of a routine custody exchange but he failed to return them a week later.

Richman, 46, reportedly told Tomich he and the boys were camping, but he pulled out of a deposition custody hearing on Friday, raising alarm.

A welfare check was carried out at Richman’s Saratoga Springs home before authorities issued an Amber Alert.

“At that point, we called the police to do a welfare check on him,” Tomich said.

“When the police arrived, we learned that the house was vacant and there were things being moved out. 

“There was no car and Dane and the boys were not home. When we learned this, we knew something was wrong.”

Tomich shared messages she exchanged with Richman, where she asked, “Where are you? Where are the kids right now?”

“With me, I’m driving,” Richman supposedly replied before saying they were “camping.”

Tomich then revealed she arrived at the supposed meet-up location 15 minutes earlier than planned.

“As the time approached, I began calling and texting him asking for an ETA. He did not respond. At, approximately 12: 01 p.m. is when I began to panic and when we called police,” she said.

Tomich’s family lawyer, Brittany Skinner, then interjected, adding, “After further investigation with the police, we learned that Dane’s quit his job.

“He’s sold almost all of his possessions. He has left with almost everything he has, with the clear intention of not returning with these children.”

Tomich’s voice cracked as she begged, “Please, like, share, repost everything, share with your family, share with your friends, anybody you know, they could be anywhere. Please,” revealing that her sons have “infectious smiles.. dimples and blue eyes.”

Richman has been charged with custodial interference, a third-degree felony, but authorities fear he may have crossed into Mexico, KTVX reported.

Cops suspect Richman was likely in Carlsbad, California, on May 18 – and crossed the border the following day.

Authorities said “There is concern for the safety and well-being of the children as the suspect has been seriously depressed, selling possessions, facing financial stress, and abandoned his home,” as they issued the Amber Alert.

But when cops were carrying out the welfare check, it’s since emerged they stopped a “moving truck,” Katie Walters, the brothers’ aunt told KTVX.

“He had completely moved out of his house that the children were supposed to be living in, and the moving truck was just actually pulling out of the driveway, and the police were able to stop the moving truck, and they asked what’s going on,” she said.

“They said they didn’t even know because they never even saw the owner of the home while they were there. They only were communicating via text.”

Addressing Richman, she said, “To Dane, just please be safe. We love you and we love those kids.”

Richman is reportedly driving a black Toyota Camry that has a Utah license plate A561HL, but cops suspect the car is a newer model and it could have a temporary tag.