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Body of missing 18-year-old on trip found in ‘remote’ bonfire pile, Arizona cops say

A body belonging to a missing 18-year-old man was found in a bonfire pile on June 12 near Bulldog Canyon in Arizona, deputies said.
A body belonging to a missing 18-year-old man was found in a bonfire pile on June 12 near Bulldog Canyon in Arizona, deputies said. Screengrab from KNXV-TV

The body of an 18-year-old man who was visiting Arizona was found in a bonfire pile, authorities said.

Parker League traveled from Nebraska and left his belongings at a home in Tempe, the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release.

Then his family never heard from him again.

“I knew he had a place to stay. I knew he got there. We texted ... that’s about it,” his brother Hunter League told KNXV-TV, saying he last heard from him on June 10.

On June 12, authorities responded to a body being found near Bulldog Canyon in the Tonto National Forest, deputies and KPNX reported.

The body was found in a “remote desert area,” deputies said. His family reported him missing to the Tempe Police Department on June 15, deputies said.

His body was identified and authorities determined his death as being malicious.

The investigation is ongoing.

“It’s hard to accept because he was the nicest kid in the world,” Hunter League told KNXV.

Bulldog Canyon is about 30 miles northeast of Tempe.

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This story was originally published June 23, 2023 at 3:20 PM with the headline "Body of missing 18-year-old on trip found in ‘remote’ bonfire pile, Arizona cops say."

Helena Wegner
McClatchy DC
Helena Wegner is a McClatchy National Real-Time Reporter covering the state of Washington and the western region. She’s a journalism graduate from Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. She’s based in Phoenix.
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