Joyce Lynn Yost

Case Details

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This person was missing Missing Since 08/10/1985

Missing Since:
Missing Since 08/10/1985
Missing From:
Missing From South Ogden, Utah
Classification:
Classification Endangered Missing
Gender:
Female
Race:
Race White
Date of Birth:
Date of Birth 01/03/1946 (79)
Age:
Age 39 years old
Height and Weight:
Height and Weight 5’5 – 5’7, 120 – 130 pounds
Clothing/Jewelry Description:
Clothing/Jewelry Description Several gold chains.
Distinguishing Characteristics:
Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian female. Blonde hair, hazel eyes. Yost has a scar on her chin and a scar on her breast. Her ears are pierced.
Details of Disappearance:
In August 1985, a woman named Yost vanished from South Ogden, Utah. Her abandoned car was found nearby. Two months earlier, she’d testified against Douglas Lovell, accusing him of kidnapping and raping her. Lovell was convicted of those charges based on her testimony.

Lovell immediately became the prime suspect in Yost’s disappearance. Investigators learned he’d even tried to hire people to kill her while he was in prison. Years later, thanks to secretly recorded conversations with his wife, Lovell was finally charged with Yost’s murder. He confessed to killing her, claiming he’d strangled her after breaking into her apartment. He said he buried her body, but despite searching, they never found it.

He was sentenced to death in 1993, but the conviction was overturned in 2010. However, he was found guilty again in 2015 and remains on death row. Police also questioned him about the disappearances of two other women, but he wasn’t charged in those cases. Yost was officially declared dead in 1992. The circumstances surrounding her disappearance strongly suggest she was murdered.

Agency:
South Ogden Police Department 801-622-2800
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