Yavapai County deputies recover body of woman who was ejected when her car fell off a cliff
YAVAPAI COUNTY, Ariz. - A 39-year-old woman was ejected from her vehicle after it rolled off the side of a cliff on Aug. 16 in Yavapai County.
YCSO deputies had to wait until the next day to recover the body due to the depth of the cliff side.
The crash happened in the Thumb Butte area about two miles away from Copper Basin Road. Authorities believe she was driving north when her car veered right, over the ledge and down the embankment just after 7 p.m.
The woman, identified as Kristin Little, 39, of Prescott, was found about halfway down the mountain, which was about 100 feet down.
Upon discovery of Little's body, deputies determined that due to darkness and difficult terrain, they would wait until the next day to perform the recovery mission.
Crews stayed on the scene overnight until they could safely begin operations. Drones and hiking crews on harnesses were used to safely descend the mountain and recover Little.
The incident is under investigation as police continue gathering evidence.
‘Kristin was the light of my life’
Little's family says adventure was her middle name, and adventuring was exactly what she was doing on the last day of her life, alongside her beloved dog CJ.
Jinger and John Cutting say their daughter made every room she walked in brighter and better.
"Kristin was the light of my life," her mother said.
She was a real estate agent in Prescott and took her career seriously, but you were more likely to find her out in nature.
"She and I hiked all the time, all the time. We would take off, and we would meet at my office or somewhere downtown, and we would just go hiking out on Thumb Butte, or we'd go hiking somewhere around the lakes," Jinger said.
Her father said, "We used to go side-by-side driving. We just did one over to Cottonwood and back with a bunch of friends of ours. She was always looking to do some adventurous thing."
Little's parents say she liked to go watch the sunset up along Thumb Butte Road.
On Friday night, she took a trip there, but during her drive, her vehicle veered off the roadway. Little did not survive, but her four-legged best friend CJ was miraculously uninjured.
"When Krissy rolled her car, CJ must've bounced out and when the rescuers got to the location they found CJ next to Krissy's body," her mother said.
CJ was brought to Little's parents' home.
"Yavapai search and rescue, I cannot thank enough for what they did, staying with my daughter, my sweet girl, all night long and making sure she was safe," Jinger said.
She credits Little's smartwatch and enrollment in the Yavapai County emergency notification system with helping first responders find her daughter quickly.
"Had she not been wearing that or had that notification, it could've been days before we found Kris," she said.
In the days since Little's death, the family has been comforted by silver linings and the overwhelming community support.
"It's just so representative of who she was, and I love that," Jinger said.
Little's family says eventually they'd like to start a foundation in her name, but first they're planning a celebration of life held in the great outdoors, a place that meant so much to their daughter.
Family thanks first responders
John, Little's father, thanked Yavapai County Sheriff's Deputy Abel Sanchez, who notified the family and was the one who told them that it might be until morning that crews would be able to rappel down the cliff to retrieve his daughter's body.
He also thanked Deputy Miller, who personally brought CJ back to Little's family, and Sgt. Horn for his constant communication with the family during this tragic time.