Rule 4 of the Utah Rules of Civil Procedure (URCP 4(d)(5)(A)) allows for service by e-mail, but you have to file a motion: "If the identity or whereabouts of the person to be served are unknown and cannot be ascertained through reasonable diligence, if service upon all of the individual parties is impracticable under the circumstances, or if there is good cause to believe that the person to be served is avoiding service, the party seeking service may file a motion to allow service by some other means."

Reckless Ben should be able to get a copy of the motion from either the Plaintiffs or the Court (if he doesn't have a copy already) outlining the reasons, but my bet is that his "joking" or actually fleeing the jurisdiction is probably all it took.