Woman Dies After Car Plummets Off 1,000-Foot Cliff

An Arizona family is in mourning after a woman's car drove off a 1,000-foot cliff and fell hundreds of feet down to a death of twisted metal. 

The Yavapai County Sheriff's Office described what happened to 39-year-old Kristin Little in a statement on social media. On Aug. 16 at approximately 5 p.m. local time, officers responded to a call about a car going off a cliffside in the Thumb Butte area outside Prescott. 

According to authorities, Little was "ejected from the car about halfway down the mountain side" based on what they found. Her dog CJ, meanwhile, was found without any harm. 

"The area was steep and hard to navigate with thick brush, so YCSO flew drones and a [Department of Public Safety] ranger helicopter assisted in looking for possible other occupants but did not locate anyone," the statement read. Rather than leave her there after finding her, officers stayed with her body overnight. 

"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 office said. "Just prior to noon [Aug. 17], the victim was transported to the medical examiner’s office." She's believed to have veered off the road and down the mountain, but the incident is still under investigation. 

Little's family remembered her fondly when speaking to KSAZ. 

"Yavapai search and rescue, I cannot thank enough for what they did, staying with my daughter, my sweet girl, all night long and making sure she was safe," her mom Jinger Cutting said. She was no stranger to the outdoors during her life, and even to the area where she ultimately died. 

"She and I hiked all the time, all the time," Cutting remembered. "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."