Arizona Man Arrested In Connection With Investigation Of Mountain Lions Devouring Human Remains

Deputies in Arizona took a man into custody as a "person of interest" linked with an incident involving mountain lions which fed on an unidentified body on a hiking trail.

Dylan Jacobs, 21, was arrested by the Pima County Sheriff's department on Friday on charges of auto theft.

The car was the property of Steven Mark Brashear, who went missing as of last month.

There were three mountain lions which were found on the hiking trail feeding on the unidentified body. One was a female and mother while the other two were male cubs though, of sufficient age.

The Arizona Game and Fish Department officials put the mountain lions down after they were determined as a danger to the public, considering they showed no fear of officers trying to dispose of the remains.

The department also stated that such abnormal behavior by the animals made them very likely to attack people in the future.

Mark Hart, the spokesman for the Arizona Game and Fish Department, claimed that when one moves a mountain lion in California, the result is they end up in another lion’s territory. Disputes can lead to death, so relocation of the animals was not a viable idea at the time.

The Pima County Medical Examiner, Greg Hess, who did the autopsy, claimed they do not have strong beliefs; the mountain lions did not kill the person. It backs up what the Game and Fish Department had been saying concerning the scene.

However, the autopsy was not able to determine the cause of death, nor could it even identify the gender of the remains.

Hess stated the body was not in good condition.

He also added that he was not able to determine how long the body had been on the trail before it was found by the lions feeding on it.

Following a necropsy on the lions, the conclusion was at least one of them had been feeding on the body for some time, meaning the game and fish department had the right to put it down.

The necropsy done on the mother lion was inconclusive, but the ones done on the two male cubs determined they had been feeding on the body.

The Sheriff’s office claimed Thornton was a person of interest in the investigation of the remains, which have yet to be identified.

It was not clear whether Thornton had legal representation who could comment on his behalf.