The Coconino County Sheriff’s Office has identified skeletal remains discovered by a hiker in 2019.
The remains were found in a heavily wooded area at the base of Mount Elden and have been identified as Mark Austin Dunne, who had been reported missing from Phoenix in 2017.
The Sheriff’s Office contracted with Intermountain Forensics of Salt Lake City in 2023 after initial identification efforts were unsuccessful.
A DNA profile showed Dunne as a potential match, and further testing was conducted by the University of North Texas, confirming the match with Dunne’s family members.
Dunne was reported missing to the Phoenix Police Department in March 2017 after not contacting his family for an extended time. Investigators say it appeared Dunne had been camping in the Flagstaff area for an extended period of time, and his cause of death could not be determined.
