Missing 17-year-old who vanished after family dispute believed to be found dead in desert
Jennaleah ‘Jenna’ Hin was reported missing in Nevada on the evening of December 30
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A body found in the Nevada desert is believed to be a teenager who went missing last week after a family dispute.
Police in the city of Henderson said in a statement that the body matches the description of 17-year-old Jennaleah “Jenna” Hin.
Hin was reported missing on December 30, 2024, after she left the home in Henderson following a family issue.
"It's just a normal family dispute, you know, that teenagers have with their parents. Nothing out of the ordinary," Mark Speer, Red Rock Search & Rescue commander said.
She said something to the effect of, “You don’t have to worry about me anymore,” according to Speer, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.
Hin did not have a phone or money on her the night she disappeared, her family members said, according to CBS affiliate KLAS.
On Sunday, Henderson police responded to an area of the desert just east of Desert Sunflower Circle and Spanish Needle Street around 10:42 a.m. after a K-9 unit was alerted to her scent, officials said. They discovered a “deceased female” who they say matches the description of Hin.
According to their “preliminary investigations, there does not appear to be signs of foul play,” police said.
The Clark County Coroner’s Office will release official identification of the body, pending notification of next of kin.
A cause of death has not been revealed.
The discovery of the body comes just two days after her mother pleaded for the public’s help in finding the teen at a press conference on Friday.
“Jenna, wherever you are or whoever you’re with, I just want you to come home,” Hin’s mother, Jennifer Swanson, said, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “I want you safe. We love you so much — please come home.”
On Sunday afternoon, her mother shared a photo of Hin on her Facebook page, writing “Jenna, I love you... Where are you, who are you with, who has you, please come home...”