Police investigating the death of a 29-year-old woman who was out hiking in Arizona last week took a suspect into custody on Thursday night.
Lauren Heike was discovered with “trauma to her body” on a popular hiking trail on Saturday morning, according to the Phoenix Police Department. They said she was “viciously” attacked from behind the previous day.
At a media briefing after the arrest, Sgt. Maria Soliz from the Phoenix Police Department confirmed that an unidentified man was placed into custody at approximately 6:30 p.m and was being interviewed by homicide detectives. Little information on the man’s identity was provided except that he is in his early 20s. He was arrested less than a mile from the trail where Heike’s body was found.
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Stressing that the investigation was still in its early stages, Soliz said that while police are confident they have their man, they “hope to have more answers” in the hours to come. “We are not finished,” Lopez said, adding that by Friday police will share more details on what led cops to their suspect.
“Right now he is the person that we believe to be responsible or in connection for the murder of Lauren Heike.”
On Wednesday, Heike’s family gathered at Phoenix police headquarters to plead for the public’s help in the investigation. “It’s horrific. As hard as this is for us, we’re grateful because we had such a beautiful child,” her mother said.
Her father added, “I’m going to miss her terribly. I just hope they can find whoever did this to her.”
The previous day, police had released a clip of blurry surveillance footage showing a person of interest in the investigation. Soliz confirmed that the figure in the footage was the same person arrested on Thursday. “Hopefully the community tonight can rest a little easier knowing this person is off the streets,” Soliz said.
Details on specifics of how he was found, his criminal history and whether there was a connection between Heike and the murder suspect were not released, including whether a tip-off led police to the residence where they found their suspect.
The suspect, however, did live at the residence where he was discovered, Soliz confirmed.
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