Arizona hikers discover body of missing woman near mountain peak

A group of hikers in Arizona stumbled across the body of a missing woman on Friday while trekking up a mountainside, authorities said.

The hikers were approaching a mountain peak near Craggy Wash, north of Lake Havasu City, when they found the unresponsive individual, the Mohave County Sheriff’s Office search and rescue team said. 

The group called the sheriff’s office for help around 5 p.m., saying the rugged terrain prevented them from getting close enough to check on the individual’s condition, officials said.

Rescue teams responded and determined the individual was dead.

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The recovery operation was delayed until the following morning due to the complexity of the location, officials said.

“The terrain was steep and rugged,” the sheriff’s office said. “Considering the different options to extract the body with our technical rope rescue team, the DPS Western Air Rescue helicopter from Kingman became available and performed a long-line extraction.”

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The body was later identified as 46-year-old Melinda Oakeson, who was recently reported as missing, according to the sheriff’s office.

The sheriff’s office did not immediately provide details on how Oakeson died or how she got to the location on the mountainside. 

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Fox News Digital has reached out to the sheriff’s office for further information.