The cause of death for hiking influencer Hannah Moody, who was discovered near an Arizona trail in May, has been determined.
Her primary cause of death was “environmental heat exposure,” according to the Maricopa County Medical Examiner’s Office. Her death was ruled accidental.
Moody, 31, was reported missing on May 21 at around 7:50 p.m. by concerned friends. The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Air Unit discovered her body 600 yards off-trail, near the Gateway Trailhead of the McDowell Sonoran Preserve, shortly after noon the next day.
On May 23, the Scottsdale Police Department issued a press release stating that officers “began search efforts on foot, with drones and assistance from a Phoenix Police Department helicopter.”
“Search efforts continued for Hannah for approximately four and a half hours until around 11:30 p.m., when the search was called off for the evening,” according to the statement.
The statement continued with the following: “Search efforts picked back up the morning of May 22, 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.”
The statement concluded, “Other individuals showed up and assisted with the search efforts as well.”
Moody was a Christian influencer with over 44,000 Instagram followers who frequently shared content about her religious beliefs and her love of hiking in Arizona.
“She was somebody who really enjoyed meeting people and did not like remaining strangers with folks,” Moody’s brother, Joel Moody, told the Arizona Republic.
He kept going: “She really wanted to make sure not only that she met people, but that when she did that they felt loved.”
Her friend Megan Pasquel, a Phoenix resident, told the outlet, “She was the type of person who would go out of her way to make a stranger’s day, whether by complimenting them or buying them coffee.” And she was always smiling and kind to everyone she met.
Terri Moody, Arizona’s mother, spoke in a separate interview with Arizona’s Family last month about her heartbreak over her daughter’s death.
“Yes, it has been…numbing. “I feel like it is not real,” Terri told the local outlet, which reported that it was 102 degrees outside on Hannah’s fatal hike.
Pasquel organised a sunrise walk to commemorate her friend’s 32nd birthday on May 31, according to the Arizona Republic.
