Hiker finds body of slain 21-year-old woman missing for months, South Dakota cops say
A hiker stumbled upon a body in South Dakota that was later identified as a 21-year-old missing woman, deputies said.
The person found a “badly decomposed body” south of Hill City on March 4, the Pennington County Sheriff’s Office said in a March 5 Facebook post.
An autopsy identified the human remains as 21-year-old Sahela Sangrait, who had been missing since Aug. 10, deputies said in a March 12 update. Her death is being investigated as a homicide.
The circumstances surrounding her death are under investigation, deputies said.
The woman from Box Elder was supposed to be staying with a friend, then making a trip to California before she vanished, according to the South Dakota Missing Persons Facebook page.
Hill City is about a 370-mile drive northwest from Sioux Falls.
This story was originally published March 14, 2025 at 1:14 PM with the headline "Hiker finds body of slain 21-year-old woman missing for months, South Dakota cops say."
