Southern Utah authorities are hoping to solve a 50-year-old mystery over a deadly flash flood with the help of a human skull fragment found in the Virgin River several years ago.

The September 1961 flood caught a Boy Scout group and others by surprise and killed five people in the river's Zion National Park Narrows section.

Springdale Police Chief Kurt Wright told The Spectrum of St. George ( http://bit.ly/ApAyZf) that only three of the bodies were recovered, and he thinks the skull fragment holds the answer to what became of one of two 17-year-old Salt Lake City boys whose bodies were never found.

The parents of Eagle Scouts Alvin Nelson and Frank Johnson have since died, but Wright was able to track down a living sibling for each and received DNA samples from them last week. He hopes the samples will identify whether the skull was from one of the boys.

Wright said he became interested when he learned of a free program at the University of Texas that matches DNA to identify skeletal remains. The skull fragment and DNA samples now are on their way to Texas for examination.

Doralee Freebairn, 65, of Holladay, the sister of one of the boys, said she hopes the DNA samples bring closure.

"It's a tough thing. Without that body, you don't really believe that they're gone," she told The Spectrum. "My feeling's strong that it's my brother Alvin. But the DNA will tell."

Past searches failed to turn up the bodies of Nelson and his best friend, Johnson, who both attended East High School in Salt Lake City. The boys were doing what they loved and enjoying the outdoors before the flood struck, Freebairn said.

"One of the girls who survived said they looked up and heard this horrible sound coming through the canyon," Freebairn said. "It was a beautiful day before the storm moved in."

The bodies of Scoutmaster Walter Scott of Murray; Steven Florence, 13, of Park City; and Paul Nicholes, 17, of Salt Lake City, were recovered.

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Information from: The Spectrum, http://www.thespectrum.com

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DNA, skull may solve Utah flash flood mystery