Family mourns missing hiker found dead in Superstition Mountains

PINAL COUNTY, Arizona. – A Phoenix The lawyer and avid hiker died while hiking in the Superstition Mountains, the Pinal County Sheriff's Office said.

Kristopher Childers' family said the 53-year-old father left early Saturday morning and never returned home, at which point search and rescue teams were dispatched.

His family noticed that his iPhone location on the mountain was no longer changing, and that's when they knew something was wrong.

Childers was born and raised in Arizona and felt comfortable in nature.

“It was horrible to get that call and hear my mom screaming,” said Childers' sister Kathleen Rzewuski.

She says he has always been fascinated by being outdoors.

“He loved the desert. He loved the mountains, but the desert always called to him,” his sister said.

Childers set out early for a hike on September 7 and left the house at 6:30 a.m. but never returned home. His iPhone showed the same location for two hours.

His body was found early the next morning.

“It looks like he fell and hit his head and they found him down in the ravine,” Rzewuski said.

She says her brother was found with water in his Camelbak backpack. He had hiked the Flatiron before, but was scouting it for a possible future hike with his 10-year-old son, who he now leaves behind.

“That was his whole world,” Rzewuski said. “He always called him 'my boy.'”

Childers' sense of humor and joy for life will be forever remembered by his grieving family.

“Nothing prepares you for it,” Rzewuski said. “Especially when it happens a second time.”

Childers' brother died tragically in 2018.

“The completeness of not having your siblings anymore – you're supposed to grow old with them,” Rzewuski said. “That leaves a huge void… no complete family anymore.”

Rzewuski says that given the huge loss, the family is now focusing on Childers' 10-year-old son.

The coroner has not yet announced the cause of death, but the family believes he fell and hit his head.