Hikers found human remains 47 years ago in the AZ desert. Now they’ve been identified
Hikers stumbled upon human remains 47 years ago in the Arizona desert, deputies said.
Investigators recently identified those remains as Luis Alonso Paredes of El Salvador, the Mohave County Sheriff’s Office said in a Dec. 26 Facebook post.
Paredes’ remains were found in a shallow grave Nov. 23, 1976, near Katherine’s Landing, deputies said.
Investigators were unable to identify his remains at the time, but they could determine they belonged to a man who was 30 to 35 years old, 5 feet, 8 inches tall, and about 140 to 150 pounds.
It was also determined Paredes had been shot in the head “at close range,” deputies said.
An autopsy was completed and fingerprints were taken, but he was never identified, deputies said.
Fingerprints help ID man
Then, in October 2023, investigators reviewed his case and compared his fingerprints to others in the national database.
After doing this, deputies said they determined the remains belonged to Paredes.
Paredes may have lived in Las Vegas when he died, deputies said. It’s possible he worked for the U.S. Coast Guard and the U.S. Navy in the San Francisco Bay “a decade before his homicide,” deputies said.
His family could not be found by authorities, but investigators are trying to locate them.
Anyone with information can contact the Mohave County Sheriff’s Office detective division at 928-753-0753 ext. 4288. The case number is DR# 76-5053.
This story was originally published December 26, 2023 at 5:12 PM with the headline "Hikers found human remains 47 years ago in the AZ desert. Now they’ve been identified."
