Hiking influencer Hannah Moody’s cause of death has been revealed more than a month after she was found dead near an Arizona trail.
The 31-year-old woman, known for sharing her hiking experiences with nearly 50,000 followers on Instagram, passed away due to environmental heat exposure, as stated in the online records from the Maricopa County Medical Examiner’s Office.
Her death was ruled accidental.
Moody’s body was discovered just 600 yards away from the Gateway Trailhead parking area in the McDowell Sonoran Preserve on May 22. This was over a day after she was last spotted hiking in that area, as reported by the Scottsdale Police Department.
After her friends grew worried about not hearing from her by the evening of May 21, they reported her missing, prompting authorities to initiate an extensive search on both the ground and from the air for the passionate hiker.
“I hope that she didn’t suffer,” Moody’s mom, Teri, told AZFamily.
“I hope that she was unaware of what was happening. It was preventable, which, that’s kind of a hard pill to swallow.”
The outlet reported that temperatures had reached 102 degrees when Moody set off on the fatal hike.
The influencer, who also shared content about her faith, is remembered as a free-spirited and loyal friend, a fitness enthusiast and a fierce competitor.
“It’s still hard to picture what happened and to figure out how she was in those last moments,” her mother told the local outlet, expressing hope that her daughter’s tragic death might save a life.
“I’m hoping that it wasn’t all for nothing. That if one life is saved because of Hannah, then that’s one life that’s been saved.”
