A woman died Friday night after her car plunged off a cliff east of Prescott, according to the Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office.
Around 5 p.m., YCSO deputies responded to the Thumb Butte Recreation Area, about two miles off Copper Basin Road, and spotted the vehicle about 1,000 feet up a mountainside in the Prescott National Forest.
According to YCSO, officers walked to the scene and found the occupant of the vehicle, later identified as Christine Little, 39, of Prescott, dead along a cliff.
Little was reportedly thrown from the car about halfway up the mountain where it landed.
According to YCSO, an investigation into the crash initially determined that Little was likely traveling north on the Sam Butte Loop Road when he veered to the left and crashed into the mountainside.
Authorities used drones and helicopters to search for other possible occupants, but found no one else. YCSO said recovery of Little’s body was delayed until the next morning because darkness fell at the crash site and the steep terrain made it too difficult for crews to navigate.
YCSO said Little’s crash and death remain under investigation.
