(Superstition Mountains, AZ) – Detectives with the Pinal County Sheriff’s Office are looking into a fatal fall that claimed the life of a female hiker from Washington State Wednesday morning, May 2, at approximately 11:00 a.m. PCSO dispatch received a call from a man who believed his wife had died after falling from a cliff face along Massacre Trail inthe Superstition Mountains. PCSO units responded along with Southwest Ambulance, Mesa Fire Department, Apache Junction Fire Department and Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office to help locate the woman. After walking in approximately four miles to the area of the fall, units located the body of the woman who was identified as Mona Mae Baker, 65, from Hansville, Washington. PCSO Search and Rescue Units were on scene near First Water Trailhead. Its estimated Baker fell some 50 feet off the cliff face. Her husband, identified as Michael Baker, 68, indicated he was not standing with his wife at the time of the fall and only saw the final seconds as she went over the edge. According to the Mr. Baker, he and his wife were experienced hikers and had successfully hiked the Massacre Trail two previous times this year. They spend the winter months traveling in their travel trailer around the Apache Junction/Gold Canyon area each year. Units with Maricopa Sheriff’s Office Mountain Rescue Team assisted in recovering Bakers body.



The investigation is ongoing.