Human remains found 47 years ago in Arizona desert are finally identified

Hikers stumbled across the body in November 1976 in the hills northeast of Bullhead City

A police sketch made in 1976 of the victim’s “probable likeness" (Museum of Northern Arizona via Mohave County Sheriff’s Office)

The remains of a man who was shot in the head and buried in a shallow grave in the Arizona desert nearly 50 years ago have finally been identified.

A group of hikers had stumbled across the body on 23 November 1976 while enjoying the hills northeast of Bullhead City in northwestern Arizona, near the border with Nevada.

On Tuesday, the Mohave County Sheriff's Office named the dead man as Luis Alonso Paredes, originally from El Salvador, after a cold case investigation.

But mystery remains as to who killed Paredes and how he ended up in the Arizona desert. Detectives have not yet been able to find any of the man's relatives, and are now seeking information from the public.

Paredes' case had been left alone for nearly 47 years after detectives failed to identify his body despite taking fingerprints.

But police in those days did not have access to any US national fingerprint databases, and when detectives began reviewing the case in October they were able to find a match.

The Sheriff's Office said that Paredes may have been working in or around Las Vegas when he died, about 100 miles away, and may also have previously served with the US Navy and the US Coast Guard in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Anyone with information about Paredes or his family should contact the Mohave County Sheriff's Office detective division at +1 928-753-0753, extension 4288, and reference case DR# 76-5053.