Man found dead alongside I-15 near Moapa identified

After a body was found of Interstate 15 south of Moapa Sunday morning with apparent trauma and gunshot wounds, police on Wednesday released a sketch of the then-unidentified man and asked for the public’s help.

On Friday, the Metropolitan Police Department said in a news release that the man has since been identified as 66-year-old Russell Vinton, who had been reported missing from Jacob Lake, Arizona.

The Coconino County Sheriff’s Office in Arizona was now leading the investigation, though Metro was lending assistance, the release said.

Vinton’s body was found Sunday at around 7:30 a.m. off I-15 near Hidden Valley Road, Metro had announced.

Vinton had last been seen on October 5 at a campsite near State Route 67 and Forest Road 213, southwest of Page, Arizona, according to a news release from the sheriff’s office.

Three days later, after not having heard from Vinton, his wife reported him missing, according to the sheriff’s office. She told the sheriff’s office he had gone camping with his friend in the Jacob Lake area.

According to a missing person flyer issued by the sheriff’s office, Vinton’s residence was in Prescott, Arizona.

Deputies responded to the campsite on October 8 and found Vinton’s truck and travel trailer missing. The sheriff’s office also found other items they deemed “suspicious in nature” at the site, the sheriff’s office news release said.

Though the sheriff’s office did not say in the press release what those items were, the release said that deputies became concerned for Vinton’s welfare.

The next morning, on Wednesday, the Lake Havasu Police Department found Vinton’s truck outside Lake Havasu City, Arizona. When Lake Havasu police detectives made contact with the man in the truck, the man shot at detectives, the sheriff’s office press release said.

Detectives then shot back at the man, hitting him, the sheriff’s office said. The man was pronounced dead at the scene.

Detectives suffered minor injuries and were hospitalized but later released.

The dead man was identified as Patrick Neal Champion, a 61-year-old from Tennessee.

Neither Metro nor the Coconino County Sheriff’s Office had yet found Vinton’s travel trailer, a white 2017 Man Cave trailer with an Arizona license plate that reads 5LA50N, the Metro press release said.

The sheriff’s office said the license plate may or may not still be affixed to the trailer, and said in the news release that they were continuing to search for the trailer and any other evidence in the case to determine “what led up to this incident.”

Contact Akiya Dillon at adillon@reviewjournal.com.