Authorities are investigating a series of human remains discovered within days in Maricopa County.
Police received a call about 7:15 a.m. Monday reporting possible human remains in a secluded area around Dim Hills Recreation Area in the mountains north of Phoenix. The remains were found by investigators with the county medical examiner and were retrieved for processing and identification, police said.
Police added that investigations are ongoing.
Phoenix police spokesman Sergeant Brian Bauer, when asked by The Arizona Republic on Tuesday, would neither confirm nor deny whether the remains were skeletal, as the television station reported.
The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office announced Tuesday they were investigating a homicide just north of 32nd Avenue and Cloud Road in Cave Creek. The body was identified Thursday as that of 26-year-old Victoria Haren.
A sheriff's office spokesperson said evidence at the scene has led to the investigation being opened as a homicide, and detectives are actively investigating the case.
As with the Phoenix incident, the cause and circumstances of death have not been released.
The town of Cave Creek is Tuesday's statement, The department said the area was closed off due to “police circumstances.”
The Cave Creek area that was the focus of Tuesday's search is about 18 miles northeast of the Deme Hills Recreation Area, where Phoenix police were searching Monday. Police have not said there is any connection between the two sets of remains.
In early August 2023, Oregon resident Jessica Christine Lindstrom, 34, was found dead in Deam Hills Recreation Area after going missing while hiking. A fire department spokesperson said at the time that Lindstrom's cause of death was heat-related.
This article originally appeared in the Arizona Republic. Human remains discovered within days in Maricopa County