On a crisp autumn day in Salt Lake City, 11-year-old Kim Petersen, a White male, was looking forward to selling his roller skates to buy a new pair. On Saturday, November 8, 1980, he was at a local roller-skating rink where he encountered a man who expressed interest in buying them for $35. Believing he had found a buyer, Kim made arrangements to meet the man the following day.
On Sunday, November 9, he left his home with his skates, telling his parents he was going to complete the sale and would be right back. He never returned.
As the hours turned into evening and Kim did not come home for dinner, his parents grew increasingly worried and contacted the police. A search was immediately launched. Investigators began by canvassing the roller-skating rink, hoping to find anyone who had seen the young boy the day before. Several witnesses came forward, recalling seeing a boy matching Kim's description talking to a man between 25 and 35 years old. The man was described as having a full face, glasses, dark, bushy eyebrows, and weighing around 200 pounds. He was reportedly wearing blue jeans and an army-style jacket. One witness even thought they saw the man leave in a silver Chevy Camaro with out-of-state license plates.
Despite these leads, the investigation initially went cold. Police questioned a 29-year-old man who lived just a few blocks from the Peterson's home, but his calm demeanor raised no alarms, and he was not considered a suspect at the time. The tragic truth of what happened to Kim would not be known for some time. It was later discovered that the man from the skating rink, whose real name was Arthur Gary Bishop, had lured Kim with the promise of buying his skates. Instead, he had bludgeoned the boy to death and buried his body in the desert near Cedar Fort. Bishop, who had also used the alias Roger Downs, would later be identified as a serial killer.
