21-Year-Old Hiker Falls to Death While Taking Selfie on Mountain Peak in Arizona

A 21-year-old hiker is said to have fallen to his death while taking a selfie on a peak in the Superstition Mountains area of Arizona.

Per a report from CBS News, the hiker—identified as Richard Jacobson—was founded dead after “slipping while taking a selfie” and falling nearly 700 feet to his death. Jacobson and a fellow hiker had been camping on a peak in the Superstition Mountains area, with local authorities later specifying that Jacobson’s body was found below the top of Flatiron near Lost Dutchman State Park.

“Mr. Jacobson went to go take a photograph with himself and the city skyline in the background, and he lost his footing, and he slipped, and he fell,” Sgt. Doug Peoble with the Pinal County Sheriff’s Office Search and Rescue division told regional outlet KTVK.

A 911 call was placed by Jacobson’s hiking companion at around 12:45 a.m. local time on Monday. The body was later recovered with assistance from an Arizona Department of Public Safety helicopter.

Speaking on Jacobson’s death, which authorities have determined did not include foul play, friend Andrew Thomas described the 21-year-old as someone with a fondness for the outdoors.

“I got to know him pretty well. … He was an outdoorsman, hunter, hiker,” Thomas, who worked closely with Jacobson as a missionary for several months in 2020, said. “He did stuff like that, so I guess he did die doing what he loved to do, just in a tragic way.”

Complex has reached out to the Pinal County Sheriff’s Office for additional comment and will update this post accordingly.