Angela Tramonte, of Massachusetts, had met Dario Dizdar online just months prior to having flown to Arizona to meet him. She was declared dead less than 24 hours later.
The death of 31-year-old Angela Tramonte, who died while hiking a popular Arizona trail with a Phoenix cop, has been ruled accidental. The cause of her death was listed as “environmental heat exposure” by the medical examiner’s offices, despite friends and families having expressed their suspicion over her death, which occurred less than 24 hours after the Massachusetts-native arrived in Arizona to meet Dario Dizdar.
Police said there's no evidence of foul play. The full report by the Maricopa County Office of the Medical Examiner has not been released yet.
Tramonte had met Dizdar online a few months prior, and flew to Phoenix to meet him at the end of July.
The pair had gone on a hike at the Echo Canyon Trail at Camelback Mountain Friday, July 30, and by 4:40 p.m. that afternoon, she was dead. Tramonte had been found unresponsive at the 2,706-foot peak and pronounced dead at the scene.
Dizdar told police that he was her boyfriend, and that they started the hike together but halfway through, she decided to turn around, ABC 15 reported. He said he had wanted to continue to the top of the mountain.
Capt. Rob McDade, a spokesperson for the Phoenix Fire Department, said the pair planned to meet at the parking lot but Dizdar could not find her when he returned to the bottom, according to the Arizona Republic.
All of her belongings were reportedly still inside of her car, authorities said. A witness who was also hiking the same trail that day told ABC 15 that he saw a pair hiking together and then saw Dizdar approaching people at the bottom asking if anyone had seen her.
But loved ones were initially suspicious of the story, claiming on a GoFundMe page that she “lived a very healthy, active lifestyle. She woke up early every morning to go to the gym. She did weekly meal planning and was obsessed with drinking water. She also loved walking her dog, Dolce every day.”
What added to their suspicion was that Tramonte died less than 24 hours after arriving in the state, and that Dizdar had previously been disciplined by Arizona police for once lying about his identity.
Dzidar, who had been with the Phoenix Police Department since 2007, was at a lounge in Glendale, Arizona, in September 2009 when he identified himself to Glendale police officer as a cop, but gave a name and date of birth that was not his, the internal affairs document said, according to the Daily Beast. He was being questioned by the officer about a friend who allegedly had been assaulted outside of the bar. He also gave the police officer the wrong number for the alleged victim, the document stated.
Dizdar told his supervisor what happened, apologized and then cooperated with the investigation into the alleged assault.
Dizdar was disciplined and placed on the Maricopa County Attorney's Office's "Brady List," which tracks police officers whose integrity they find concerning because of past misconduct, internal Phoenix Police Department documents obtained by ABC 15 in 2020 said.
Dizdar is still on the Brady List, the Maricopa County Attorney's Office said, according to The Daily Beast.
The Phoenix Fire Department, however, confirmed that Dizdar did identify himself as a police officer to emergency responders when Tramonte was discovered unresponsive and later pronounced dead, according to The Daily Beast.
