Death of Adrienne Salinas

Adrienne Celeste Salinas was 19 and living in Tempe, Arizona, when she disappeared in the early hours of June 15, 2013. The FBI says she had attended a birthday gathering at her residence the previous evening. She left, returned briefly, and was seen leaving again at about 4 a.m. Minutes later, her car was involved in a single-vehicle crash near her home. Salinas returned to the apartment without being seen, changed clothes, and arranged for a taxi. At about 5 a.m. she texted her boyfriend that she was going to his home and spoke with the taxi driver about meeting at a nearby convenience store. The driver arrived but could not find her, and later calls to her telephone went to voicemail. Her family reported her missing on June 16. [FBI](https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/seeking-info/adrienne-celeste-salinas/download.pdf)

The search ended in August with the discovery of human remains in a desert wash in Apache Junction. The FBI dates the discovery to August 6 and notes that the area had experienced a substantial storm and flooding. DNA testing established that the remains were Salinas's. Contemporary CBS News reporting said police treated the case as a homicide and searched the surrounding creek-bed area for personal property, including her wallet and phone. Police did not believe the recovery point was necessarily where her body had first been placed because rainwater may have carried it downstream. [CBS News](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/adrienne-salinas-update-remains-idd-as-those-of-missing-ariz-college-student-police-say/)

Later reporting documented why the investigation has remained difficult. Arizona's Family reported that the recovered skeleton showed no obvious trauma in the portions available for examination, while parts of the remains were missing and investigators found no evidence of intentional decapitation. Detectives said flooding had deprived them of a definite deposition site and therefore of a conventional scene to process. They also had not recovered Salinas's phone. The department assigned a new detective to the case in 2021 and continued reviewing the route between Tempe and Apache Junction and the wash where the remains were recovered. [Arizona's Family](https://www.azfamily.com/2022/06/26/unresolved-episode-2-secret-desert/)

The FBI continues to characterize the matter as a suspicious death and offers a reward for information leading to the identification, arrest, and conviction of whoever was responsible. No person is named here as a suspect: CBS reported at the time of identification that police had not identified a person of interest, and subsequent public appeals have not announced a charge. The case is therefore classified as unsolved, with both the cause of death and the route by which Salinas reached Apache Junction still undetermined. [FBI](https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/seeking-info/adrienne-celeste-salinas/download.pdf)