Arizona hiker Hannah Moody’s body found off trail day after she was reported missing

The body of a hiker was found off a trail in central Arizona Thursday some 16 hours after she was reported missing, Scottsdale police say, calling it a “heartbreaking development.”

The department says an investigation into Hannah Moody’s death is underway, though there are “no obvious signs of foul play or trauma at this point.”

According to Scottsdale police, Moody’s body was spotted at about 12:05 p.m. near the Gateway Trailhead of the McDowell Sonoran Preserve in Scottsdale. She was first reported missing at around 7:50 the evening before by friends who got concerned because they hadn’t heard from her.

Responding officers found her vehicle in the parking lot. Attempts “to reach her by phone or ping her cellphone were unsuccessful. Officers began search efforts on foot, with drones and assistance from a Phoenix Police Department helicopter,” Scottsdale police said.

The search went on until about 11:30 p.m., when it was suspended for the evening.

It resumed in the morning “with 20-plus officers on bicycles, on foot, with drones, and with the assistance of the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office search and rescue team and air unit,” Scottsdale police said. “Other individuals showed up and assisted with the search efforts as well. The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Air Unit located Hannah’s body around 12:05 p.m., about 600 yards off-trail.”

Scottsdale detectives and crime scene personnel are carrying out a thorough probe to try to figure out what happened to Hannah and how she died. The Maricopa County medical examiner’s office will attempt to determine the cause of death.