She Went to Visit Man She Met Online, Died on a Hike

Update: The death of a Massachusetts woman whose body was found off an Arizona trail she set out on with a man she had met online has been ruled accidental. The Office of the Medical Examiner for Maricopa County on Tuesday attributed Angela Tramonte's July 30 death to environmental heat exposure, reports NBC News. Her family remains skeptical, with her mother telling KPNX, "My daughter was an Instagram person. She posted everything, thousands of photos per day. And she was always in the picture. And there's not one picture of her going up the mountain or even in Arizona. None of it makes sense." Our original story from earlier this month follows:

A Massachusetts woman died soon after arriving in Arizona on her first trip to see a man she'd recently met on Instagram, friends tell CBS Boston. The body of Angela Tramonte, 31, was found near the base of Camelback Mountain in Phoenix on Friday, hours after she'd set out to hike Echo Canyon Trail with her companion, who is reportedly a police officer. The man, whom police are not identifying, called 911 around 1pm when he returned to the parking lot after his hike and couldn't find Tramonte, Arizona Central reports.

He said she'd decided to turn back earlier because of the heat, while he continued on, saying Tramonte told him to snap photos at the top for her to share online. Tramonte was found dead near a house, and police believe she was trying to get help—but no one was home, NBC News reports. Foul play is not suspected, police say. The medical examiner will determine Tramonte's cause of death, but authorities believe heat exhaustion, heat stroke, or dehydration likely played a role. Phoenix hit a high of 104 degrees Friday, WCVB reports.

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The tragedy is "another reminder of just how unrelenting and unforgiving the elements of the Sonoran Desert can be," a captain with the Phoenix Police Department says. But Tramonte's friends want answers as to why her companion left her to walk back alone if she was overheated. "If anybody knew Angela, she wouldn’t go anywhere without a gallon of water in her hand and I heard she was found without any water," adds one friend. A GoFundMe campaign has been set up. (More Arizona stories.)