PHOENIX — >>Warning: This content may be disturbing for some viewers.
Body camera footage of the moment a Valley man's body was found burning in a desert north of Phoenix has been released by the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office.
Benjamin Anderson's body was found on fire on Dec. 31, 2021, in a desert area near Interstate 17 and Table Mesa Road. His friends and family had reported him missing that same evening.
Anderson's torched car was found a short time later about 30 miles away in the parking lot of UEI College.
The footage shows deputies arriving at the scene and speaking with the people who found the burning body and called it in.
"I'm not sure, is it a body or is it a mannequin?" one of the witnesses is heard saying.
The deputy then drives down the road further where he finds the burning body. The deputy put the fire out with a fire extinguisher before speaking with his supervisor over the phone.
"It's possible this might be a body," the deputy said. "He might have slipped and fell but I don't know what would have set him on fire. I think we have a dead body here, sir."
"Treat it as a crime scene," the supervisor said.
The body was eventually identified as Anderson.
The case has remained unsolved over the last two years but the MCSO said in January that investigators have identified suspects and they are in the process of combing through digital data and records to collect more evidence against them.
Regardless of what they find, MCSO said they "will be submitting charges against the alleged suspects."
>>This is a developing story. 12News will post new information here as it is received.
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