Missing teen found dead at the bottom of bluff

A teen boy who went missing after going on a run Tuesday afternoon was found dead at the bottom of the South Hill bluff.

The boy, according to posts on social media, went jogging at about 12:30 p.m. in the Cannon Hill/Manito Park area and was reported missing to police sometime after.

The boy’s mother posted on Facebook at about 11 p.m. that she needed help locating her son, since she was away in California. The post received dozens of responses of people looking to help. Other posts surfaced on Nextdoor, a popular private social network for neighborhoods, also looking to help.

The boy’s body was located at about 1:30 a.m. in the area of Latah Valley at the bottom of the bluff. His cellphone was found first, as indicated by a post by his mother, who wrote on Facebook that searchers found the phone by the tracks before his body. They were able to find the phone by pinging its location.

Police said it appeared the teen died by suicide.

“But we investigate everything seriously,” said Spokane Police Department Detective Ben Green. “We leave nothing to chance.”

Police ask anyone with information to call Crime Check at (509) 456-2233.