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My husband's hiking and he found a dead body. >> There's a torso and a head and there's a bunch of other bones around it. >> A hiker exploring an area off trail gets far more than he bargained for when he stumbles upon human remains at the White Tank Mountain Regional Park. The following is based on official police records released to date and the footage has never been seen before until now. In November 2024, a hiker goes off trail while looking for petroglyphs in the White Tank Mountains of Arizona. Instead of the ancient symbols, however, he discovers something far more unsettling. >> All right, just stay put cuz I got your coordinates. >> It's very close to where I am, but I'm like directly above where the body is, but it's a very steep ravine. So, I'm like 500 ft or maybe 200 ft above it. >> Okay. >> If I go down back down there, I'll lose coverage, but this is as close as I can get it. So, I'll have coverage. And I can take a snapshot of of a pinpoint on a map or maybe I can send that to you now. >> Struggling to access stable reception, the hiker climbs higher and sends his GPS coordinates and a photo of his location to the Maricopa Sheriff's Office. Deputies are able to get near the spot, but the off-trail route is deemed too hazardous to reach on foot. >> Are you still up on the hill? >> I am. >> All right, you alone? >> I am. >> Okay. All right, we might have the helicopter come out there kind of see the area and get obviously one of us to that area. >> Okay, it's pretty pretty inaccessible. I mean I I it it's about as inaccessible as you can get. It'd be a like a 3-hour trip to come up here. >> So, I see that you came in and I see the Waterfall Canyon Road, okay? So, where did you park? >> I actually at the Mesquite Trailhead. I'm actually off trail in an area directly above the waterfall trail because the trail ends at the waterfall. >> Three deputies land near the scene and meet the hiker. He directs them to human remains appearing to be in an advanced state of decomposition with bone fragments strewn across the ravine. The hiker tells the sheriff's office that environmental factors could have altered the state of the remains, a theory that deputies on site appear to agree with. >> This person This is like beyond repair. It is like I >> Been there for a while. >> But there's clothes at the It's got the torso and head and there's a bunch of other bones around it. >> And there's a bunch of what? >> Other bone like there's some more bones like some legs and stuff. >> And you think about You wouldn't have hiked this a few months ago, you know, cuz it was so hot. People get disoriented. >> That's right. >> And where is like anytime whenever it rained last, it would have washed this away, I think. >> First thing that you think is they jumped off the cliff. But they're not really right at the where the cliff would be. So like if an animal brought them over here or if they the water wouldn't really take them to where they are. >> I would say disturbed by animals the way they're separated, you think or >> Yeah. It's definitely something There's some like fur cells off your hard left. >> Yeah. >> I don't know if that's human hair. >> The big old pile? >> Yeah. >> I don't know. What is this? >> I mean it looks like a piece of clothing is in there. In the plant. I found more bones. Oh look, the bones come out all the way over here. Well, I could smell the remains. >> Yep. >> Smells like Interesting. You know, the guy was right though. This is not a big body at all. Yeah, but look at the of the rib cage, the size of the head. Oh, no, this is definitely human hair. >> All kind of >> Oh, well, at least That That doesn't look like animal fur. >> Even the big clumps up here. >> Yeah, it's probably just long long hair like it was a woman. Oh, found more bones. Wait, this is weird because how the heck would bones get into here? >> Animal? >> Drag it into this hole? >> Yeah. >> A kneecap? >> You know, there's small animals, too, right? >> As deputies continue investigating the area, they spot something even stranger than the state in which the human remains were found. >> Did you see this? >> Oh, yeah. >> It's like a little foreign there's like drawings. >> Hieroglyphs. >> Uh that looks like it's just a charcoal stick and someone put a cross there. That's weird. Like, you see that grass bed? >> No. >> It's almost like they got lost and tried to survive. And then like a bridge. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Bridge to get across. >> And it's like >> Stones for sitting on. >> And it's like the rocks are funneling a potential water pathway. >> You're right. >> And then you have like a bridge going over like a foot deep water crossing way. You could definitely tell this is a human >> all the rocks are set. >> Yeah. I mean, it's definitely man-made. >> Yeah. >> And then you have like the table or shelf or something in the center? >> Yeah. >> And then you got like up against the foreign where kind of where that bed is, you kind of have like a little seat. I mean, it's it's kind of cool. Yeah, it's like someone >> Someone made a bed and put a smile down there. >> So, they might have done it intentionally to like live off the land or they might have slipped down here, got hurt, and knew they couldn't hike very far. >> Just to survive? I feel like that's excessive. >> The makeshift campsite deputies locate includes a bed, fireplace, seating area, and a bridge-like structure to get across a water pathway. Above the site, deputies spot what looks to be a cross drawn on the rock face. >> He thinks it's this girl that was been missing since like March, April time. But, we'll probably never know. >> Given the state of the remains, deputies believe it might be difficult to determine who created the campsite. As the bones are moved to a nearby parking lot for further examination, an SUV approaches deputies at the bottom of the mountain to ask them a pressing question. >> Find is my mom? >> We have no idea. We don't even know know the the race. Um all we know is that there is a skeletonized body up there. We're going to recover the body, then we take it down to the medical examiner's office, and they're the ones that will work on um identification. And they'll do that by uh dental records. >> When I first she first went missing, the police asked me where her dental records were, and I told them that she was getting dental work done in Mexico. >> The woman in the SUV is the daughter of a hiker who went missing in the White Tank Mountains in April 2024. But, with few recognizable features left on the remains, deputies believe confirming the identity may prove difficult. >> The person who contacted a private investigator contacted me. >> I got you. Okay. >> And that person the hiker saw the person was wearing a floral shirt. >> From the photos I saw, I I couldn't make out any shirt. I see I There's clothing there, but it's so dirty and worn out, I couldn't tell you what it was. No. >> That picture of her right there, I mean, I'm sure you've seen pictures of her, but her smile is very distinct. She has really big gap teeth. And then she has two missing bottom teeth where she wore like a flapper that could come in and out. >> Well, so we can't say for sure until they they do the comparison. >> record take my DNA to match it with her. >> So, that's going to depend if there's bone marrow inside the bone still. Depends on how long they've been out there. I see >> red hair that's like shoulder length. >> Yeah, from the photos there's no hair at all. >> While in the helicopter, the deputy spotted something unusual above the ravine where the remains were found. They decide to climb up to investigate and soon locate several personal items on the trail above the campsite. >> Hey, [snorts] I found it. This empty water bottle. And a journal. I have a feeling this journal will have something in it. Coins, email password. Oh, credit cards, check car insurance. Yard work, coal life insurance. 401K. Pulse submit group life at If I would have to put my bet, it's definitely women's clothing. Those are more indicative of somebody coming out here to hang out. It's interesting why it would be up here though. Nothing real definitive. What interesting items to have on a hike. >> Is there a Bible? >> There is a Bible up there. There is a a white hat up there. I don't know if she wears um a hat and there's >> She wears like sun hats sometimes with the long >> And then there's sandals up there, so >> The person that thought they saw her last said that she was carrying a backpack and really large water bottle. >> There is a water bottle up there, um but it's not like one of those. It's one of those hard plastic like refillable reusable ones. >> Well, Detective Mobile went and got the surveillance of my mom the day of her disappearance, she went into Ross and bought a new big plastic water bottle. She said that it was really distinct. >> The missing hiker's daughter recounts that while detectives in the sheriff's office were trying to locate her mother back in April, a witness came forward claiming to have seen her the day she disappeared. >> They both did question that witness. They saw her on Mesquite Trail the day that she went missing. Sheriff's Department said that the witness sounded credible, and then later on they thought maybe not as much. And then Mobile brought her out here and took her on the trail. >> I'm just following this this little game trail here. Yeah, I don't want to get caught up here at dark. Interesting. This trail is like pretty worn. That cuz it stops right there, so that's as far as they could have walked. Cuz yeah, cuz right after this rock outcropping right here, it gets pretty narrow. Yeah. I mean, and then after that next rock rock outcropping, you're you're basically bouldering. You're shimmying on the ledge. >> By time they make positive confirmation and at that point you'll be notified if if it does happen to be your mother up there, but from talking with Phoenix PD, they don't they're not quite sure if it would be because it's so remote that we have to get hoisted in by helicopter. From my understanding, she I guess she had some hip issues or medical stuff going on, so they're not sure if she would have been able to hike all the way up into where it's at cuz it's there's no trails or nothing like that. It's very steep cliffs. >> Despite following the witness along the Mesquite Trail, detectives were unable to locate Amber at the time, and deputies expressed doubt that she could have reached such a remote location. >> The end of the trail showed signs that other hikers had passed through the area, but evidently none of them reported finding the campsite or the personal belongings above it. >> Was there anything suspicious regarding her going missing you know that you're aware of, or is it just a missing person? >> It was just a missing person. There was I think I think they called off the search thinking it might be foul play and they investigated for a couple months and then they said we found no foul play. >> Okay. >> We think she's on the mountain. We're going to get back to the sheriff's department. >> A medical examiner would eventually identify the remains using dental records as belonging to 52-year-old Amber Barnett, the missing hiker from April 2024. According to Amber's missing person report, this was not the first time she had gone missing. The report further states she had a history of mental health issues, but Amber's family said she had been facing multiple personal challenges in the months leading up to her disappearance. >> I further think that she came out here to go on a 40-day fast for spiritual reasons. Maybe she was like she had been fasting. She had lost quite a bit of weight leading up. I don't know if you know this, but [clears throat] her husband died here. >> I did not know that. Okay. >> a heart attack here. They were camp hosts. He had a heart attack in the RV and died. >> When When was Adam? I'm so sorry. >> It was 4 months before she died. >> Okay. >> Or before she went missing. And then her mother died a month before she went missing. And then I think she stopped coming here cuz she was sad. Would still volunteer and come out here a lot, but that day she wasn't volunteering. She just left all of her stuff in the vehicle there. >> Wow. Okay. >> Deputies at the scene reached the ledge directly above the ravine where Amber's remains were located and they make one final discovery. >> Body's right here. >> I mean there's a shoot that goes >> Yeah, I'm I'm seeing the shoot right here. And opens up. Broken branches up here. >> Yeah, it's kind of Think they could have been up higher and flip down or you think they slipped from right there? >> I mean that's definitely a possibility. I mean there's kind of a nice little path right here. It's all rock, so I can't tell how much it's been traveled or anything like that, but >> But if somebody was walking right there and then they slipped, that's a big enough fall for them to >> Yeah. >> suffer enough injury to be immobilized and have to stay here for longer than they wanted. >> In realm of possibilities, I would definitely say probable. What's kind of likely considering they >> fall and they've been surviving down here for a little bit, and that's the reason they didn't hike out is because they were too hurt to hike out. >> Yeah, and they were basically just crawling putting rocks up. I mean it's definitely doable. Um >> Especially with the will to live. >> Based on police records released to date, Amber Barnett's official cause of death remains undetermined. And while deputies from the sheriff's office noted signs of an accidental fall and an attempt to survive out in the mountains, the circumstances surrounding Amber's final moments remain unclear. To access more of our content, including extras such as raw footage, actual case files, and unseen details, you can join us on our Patreon. Join and see what you've been missing.

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