Jenny Haase was found deceased in the desert off Highway 86 on the Tohono O’odham Nation Reservation on Aug. 23. An autopsy listed the cause of death as undetermined.
By Jon Johnson
TOHONO O’ODHAM NATION RESERVATION – The body of missing Safford woman Jenny Haase, 51, was located on the Tohono O’odham Nation Reservation on Aug. 23. The circumstances surrounding her death are mysterious, and an autopsy from the Office of Pima County Medical Examiner fell short from shedding light on the case.
Haase was initially reported missing on Aug. 17 at about 4:14 a.m. after her husband woke up for work and noticed she was not home. Residential surveillance footage shows she left the residence at about 1:18 a.m. in her gray, 2011 Dodge Charger. She left the residence without her purse or cell phone and had only about three-quarters of a tank of gas, according to comments her husband made to a Graham County Sheriff’s Office deputy.
According to the initial Sheriff’s Office report, Haase had been depressed and not sleeping before becoming missing. She also reportedly had a history of mental health issues involving a religious obsession and had expressed a desire to “drop everything and just drive.”
Police officers with the Tohono O’odham Police Department located Haase’s Dodge Charger off Highway 86 on Aug. 18 and tagged it for illegal parking. An officer advised the vehicle was found unlocked and had “heavy” front-end damage and a missing headlight. However, it wasn’t until Aug. 22 after an article about Haase and her car being missing was published in the Gila Herald that Tohono O’odham Police officers contacted the Graham County Sheriff’s Office about its attempt to locate the Charger and advised they had found it.
Officers from the Tohono O’odham Nation then went back to the vehicle the following day on Aug. 23 and during a walk around the area discovered a deceased female later identified as Jenny Haase in the desert brush a short distance from the highway.
An autopsy was performed by the Pima County Office of Medical Examiner as part of the Tohono O’odham Police investigation, however, after examining the remains the medical examiner could not determine how Haase died.
“In consideration of the known circumstances surrounding this death, the available medical history, and the examination of the remains, the cause of death is undetermined,” Krista Timm, M.D. wrote in her opinion. “The manner of death is undetermined.”
Additionally, a toxicology examination of Haase “did not reveal any positive findings of toxicological significance . . .”
The case remains under investigation by the Tohono O’odham Police Department.
