A grisly discovery in the north Phoenix desert near Deer Valley has left Phoenix police officers grappling with an unsettling mystery. Last Tuesday, skeletal human remains were uncovered in the area of 7th Street and Deer Valley Road, as reported by ABC15. Who the deceased is and what transpired leading up to their death is currently unknown.
Adding to the enigma, a human skull was previously found on October 24 in the same vicinity — whether the skull and the newly found remains are part of the same individual has yet to be confirmed. As experts work at piecing together this puzzle, a medical examiner is set to identify the remains and determine a cause of death, if ascertainable.
Mike Stein, a local man who stumbled upon the skeleton, provided an exclusive interview to FOX 10 Phoenix. According to Stein's account, he was engaged in a nocturnal desert ride on his electric bike, seeking solace in the expanse when he encountered a homeless encampment. There, an individual clued him in on the existence of "suspicious bones" nearby. But what Stein found, he said, was clearly "a human body," with those at the camp too reticent to alert authorities.
Upon discovery of the remains, tucked behind boulders just 500 feet from the road, Stein immediately noticed two oddities: alongside the bones lay an ID for a 60-year-old Alabama man, and the skull was conspicuously missing, though the lower jaw lay in situ. Stein has turned over the ID to police, a detail that caught their attention as they carry on with a death investigation.
The final determination as to if the skull and remains are a match, and the subsequent identification of the individual will be conducted through DNA analysis by the Office of the Medical Examiner. All the while, as the investigation continues, Stein hopes that the conclusions drawn will give some answers that a family somewhere soon gets, he reflected in statements made during his interview with FOX 10.
