Man found dead in Buckeye desert after going on bike ride and getting a flat tire, Buckeye PD says

BUCKEYE, Ariz. - The Buckeye Police Department is investigating what it believes was a heat-related death on Sunday afternoon.

At around 1:45 p.m., officers responded to a woman reporting her husband went for a bike ride in the Sun City Festival area and hadn't arrived at a fire station on Wagner Complex Drive where they agreed to meet.

"She explained her husband, a man in his 70s, called her earlier in the day to say his bike got a flat tire in a desert area west of the fire station and that he was attempting to walk to the fire station where she could pick him up," Buckeye Fire said.

Police and fire crews started looking for the man and found him dead in a desert area. He was identified as 73-year-old James Van de Voorde.

"This appears to be a heat-related death, but the medical examiner’s office will ultimately determine cause of death," police said.