Man eaten by mountain lions identified, Arizona cops say, but death remains a mystery
Arizona authorities have identified the dead man whose remains were found late last year eaten by mountain lions along a hiking trail.
The remains of Steven Mark Brashear, a 66-year-old Oklahoma man, were discovered at the trailhead of the Pima Canyon hiking route north of Tucson on Dec. 31, the Pima County Sheriff’s Office said Tuesday.
“The manner of death has yet to be determined,” deputies said.
Three mountain lions — a mother and a pair of 1-year-old cubs — were suspected of eating the man’s body, and after all three animals were killed, a necropsy confirmed that at least one of the big cats had ingested human remains, KOLD reported.
“The body was not in good condition,” Pima County Medical Examiner Greg Hess said, according to KOLD — though Hess added that “we don’t have strong beliefs that the mountain lions killed the person.”
Arizona Game and Fish Department officials said the animals had to be euthanized.
“Lions eating human remains is not normal ... they typically prefer live prey,” said Tucson Game and Fish spokesman Mark Hart, according to the Arizona Republic. “Research shows that if they eat human remains they are more likely to attack humans in the future.”
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Hart also told KOLD that “the lions tore the clothes off the victim. That is an indication that they had figured out that a human being clothed is food.”
Deputies arrested 21-year-old Daylan Jacob Thornton on Jan. 3 on automotive theft charges related to Brashear’s car, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
“Daylan Thornton has been identified as a person of interest in the investigation into the remains that were discovered in Pima Canyon,” deputies said earlier this month, though they noted at the time that the remains had yet to be identified.
Thornton “reportedly drove [Brashear’s car] to the Oro Valley police station responding to the missing person report,” according to ABC 15.
Brashear had been reported missing to Oro Valley police in December, Pima County deputies said.
The Oro Valley Police Department said in a news release Dec. 27 that local authorities were searching for Brashear, helping the “the Bartlesville Police Department in Oklahoma with a missing person investigation.”
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Brashear left Bartlesville on Dec. 7 and headed to Arizona “in a gray Audi Q5 SUV with Oklahoma temporary plates,” police said.
Police said Brashear might have reached the Tucson area Dec. 8 in the afternoon, stopping at a restaurant near the Tucson mall.
According to ABC 15, police said Thornton drove from Oklahoma with Brashear, and Thornton “said something to investigators that convinced them the missing person is dead but they did not elaborate on what it was.”
“Brashear was allegedly picked up in a separate vehicle by an unknown person and has not been seen or heard from since,” Oro Valley police said last month before the body was discovered. “The Bartlesville Police Department pinged Brashear’s cell phone and it was reported to be within a three-mile radius of Oracle Road and Hardy Road,” which is in Oro Valley north of Tucson.
Police said a search of the area didn’t turn up signs of Brashear or his cellphone.
“The family reported the lack of contact with Brashear is highly unusual,” Oro Valley police said. “It was also reported Brashear had made suicidal statements.”
