Disturbing images from police body cameras have surfaced showing the moment when Maricopa County Sheriff's deputies discovered the burning body of 41-year-old Phoenix man, Benjamin Anderson, in a desert north of Phoenix over two years past, lending a grim reality to the unsolved case.
Anderson was declared missing on the last day of 2021, and the bodycam footage obtained by 12News details a deputy discerning between a mannequin and a human body, with the grave realization settling in, the deputy exclaimed "Jesus," upon recognizing the severity of the situation, before a supervisor is heard saying over the phone, "Treat it as a crime scene."
Further intensifying the case's macabre details, an additional video, as seen on AZFamily, revealed Anderson adorned in atypical attire - fishnet stockings - prompting speculations by his friend Dan Stahoviak who could not fathom the circumstances, "Did they put them on him? Was it used to, you know, as part of like to tie him up? Everything goes through my mind because I’ve never known Ben to wear fishnet stockings," Stahoviak told AZFamily.
Amongst the charred remains and desert brush, the bodycam captured a deputy sharing his theory of the event, noting "There’s blood up here at the top of the hill. It looks like a body dump, Sergeant. Somebody drug him and threw him off this little cliff," indicating what may have been a violent end to Anderson's life; while recent developments relayed by the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office suggest that suspects have been pinpointed and potential charges are pending as investigators sift through digital records.
While long-awaited justice trembles on the horizon, Stahoviak, confronted with the harrowing visuals of his friend's final moments, shared with AZFamily his and his acquaintances' struggle to brace for the conceivable truths that may unearth: "We have to prepare ourselves for that moment we find out why," he said, with MCSO affirming the progression toward pressing charges following their meticulous examination of pertinent digital data.
