A welfare check on a vehicle in Arizona City turned into an investigation after deputies found 19-year-old Lorenzo Cazares dead inside, just days after another Pinal County teenager died following a roadway injury in San Tan Valley. The Pinal County Sheriff's Office says it received the call around 8:30 a.m. on October 4 near Overfield Road and Battaglia Drive, after someone reported a person in a vehicle might need medical attention.
By the time deputies arrived, Cazares was already dead, according to the Arizona Daily Independent. Detectives believe his death occurred sometime between 4 a.m. and 8:30 a.m. that morning. What began as a routine welfare check has since escalated: as reported by KTAR.com, Cazares is now the second teenager to die in Pinal County within a single week, following the death of 16-year-old Logan Almodova, who was found seriously injured on a San Tan Valley roadway.
Deputies found Cazares deceased at the scene, and the cause of death remains under investigation.
Investigators have not disclosed a cause of death, named any suspects, or said whether the circumstances of Cazares' death involved foul play.
A Rural County Under One Sheriff's Watch
The Pinal County Sheriff's Office is investigating Cazares' death in Arizona City. Sheriff Ross Teeple, who took office in January 2025 succeeding former Sheriff Mark Lamb, leads a department of nearly 500 employees covering Pinal County, according to county records published on Pinal.gov.
The community, established in 1959, had 9,868 residents as of the 2020 census, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. Arizona City sits near the junction of Interstate 8 and Interstate 10, roughly 60 miles from both Phoenix and Tucson, placing it at a crossroads between the state's two largest metro areas.
Investigation Continues
No arrests or suspects have been publicly announced in Cazares' death as of this reporting.
Cazares' death comes less than three weeks after Hoodline reported on the San Tan Valley teen found critically injured on a roadway, a case that ended in Logan Almodova's death. The incidents occurred within days of each other along rural Pinal County roads. Anyone with information about Cazares' death is asked to call the Pinal County Sheriff's Office at 520-866-5148.
