39-Year-Old Woman Dies After Car Plunges 1,000 Feet Down Arizona Mountainside

Kristin Little was confirmed as the victim in the tragic incident on Friday, Aug. 16

A 39-year-old woman has tragically died after her car fell 1000 feet down an Arizona mountainside.

Kristin Little was ejected from her vehicle and died as it fell in the Thumb Butte area in Prescott, Ariz., on Friday, Aug. 16, Yavapai County Sheriff's Office (YSCO) confirmed in a news release.

Little is believed to have been driving along Thumb Butte Loop Road when she “veered to the left causing her to go off the road and down the mountain.”

YSCO deputies were called to the scene at approximately 5:00 p.m. where they embarked on a measured process in locating and retrieving Little.

“Deputies were able to locate the vehicle approximately 1000 feet down the steep mountainside, and after hiking down, also located a deceased occupant of the car,” the release stated. “The victim was identified as 39-year-old Kristin Little of Prescott, who had been ejected from the car about halfway down the mountainside.”

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“Due to the difficult terrain and the coming darkness, the decision was made to wait until light this morning to recover the victim, with YCSO personnel remaining with Ms. Little throughout the night,” the release added.

Little was transported to the Medical Examiner’s office on Saturday, Aug. 17. No other passengers were found or appeared to have been driving with her at the time of the incident.

She had been traveling with her dog CJ, however, who escaped unharmed and was brought to her parents’ home, Fox 10 reported.

"When Krissy rolled her car, CJ must've bounced out and when the rescuers got to the location they found CJ next to Krissy's body," her mother Jinger Cutting told the outlet.

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"Kristin was the light of my life," Cutting added to the outlet. "She and I hiked all the time, all the time. We would take off, and we would meet at my office or somewhere downtown, and we would just go hiking out on Thumb Butte, or we'd go hiking somewhere around the lakes.”

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Cutting expressed her gratitude for her daughter wearing her smartwatch in the incident and that she had been enrolled in the Yavapai County emergency notification system as first responders were able to find her more quickly.

"Had she not been wearing that or had that notification, it could've been days before we found Kris," she told Fox 10.

An investigation into the incident is ongoing.

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