Flagstaff’s ominous Sheep Hill
Tom Zoellner for TZR · May 28, 2009 · Print This Article
Sheep Hill, a massive cinder cone, looms in the distance near Flagstaff's east side.
It is impossible to miss while driving east through Flagstaff, as it appears dead center in the driver’s field of vision. It is also visually prominent to eastbound motorists on US 89.
Sheep Hill is a classic cinder cone of the Coconino Plateau, a part of the San Francisco volcanic field which sits atop an active field of magma. Decorative cinders are now mined out of the hill’s body (revealing a colorful striation) and giving it a distinctly terraced shape.
Platt Cline’s peerless history of Flagstaff, Mountain Town, makes passing reference to Sheep Hill as one of the area’s very first ski resorts. Coconino County cleared a course there in the early part of the century and installed a tow rope, but shut it down in 1915 after a novice skiier had a fatal accident.
More notoriously, the eastern summit was where a search party found the remains of 12-year-old Jennifer Wilson* underneath a juniper tree in 1988. She had been kidnapped while riding her bicycle on Peaceful Valley Road 19 days prior. A local criminal named Ricky Bible was arrested and charged with her murder. Bible now sits on Arizona’s death row.
Sheep Hill has also been the location where he tied a local woman** to a tree and raped her seven year prior, according to the Arizona Daily Sun.
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*CORRECTION (8.10.09): Jennifer Wilson was 9 at the time of the murder, not 12.
**CLARIFICATION (8.10.09): The local girl who Ricky Bible was convicted of raping was Bible’s cousin.
if you are going to post such a sensitive subject and want to give respect to the family, you should get your facts straight first. Jennifer Wilson was nine years old when kidnapped and murdered, and the local girl that Ricky Bible raped and tied to a tree on Sheeps Hill was his own cousin. It may not seem as a big deal to you as a journalist, but to the family, facts are important. thank you,
I agree, it is very disrespectful to post false information on a subject that has affected the lives of everyone living in Flagstaff at that time. It is not difficult to find the correct information on this case…it’s everywhere..I’m shocked that you are allowed to publish something..or have a job with the paper for that matter. I had a similar thing happen to me in the deaths of two of my family members…we even wrote down the info to be printed in the obituaries and they still got it wrong! These small typos to you may mean nothing, but it is very important to loved ones..so please…do your homework
I think the man that wrote this should write an apology to releasing false facts in such a horrific case. The information is all over the internet, it would have taken you less than two minutes to get the correct info. I think you owe an apology to the families and an apology for not correctly doing your research, thank you
We’re happy to correct any inaccuracies if you will point them out. Please list them and send me an email at:
aklaw (at) zoniereport (dot) com
I appreciate you responding and making changes to the article you posted about Sheep Hill.When it is such a sensitive subject, I believe it is important to tell the facts and take the time to do the research out of respect to the families. Jennifer Wilson was nine when this happened and the local girl, as Rene stated, was Ricky Bible’s cousin. I appreciate you taking the time to notify the public of your mistake, thank you
I appreciated the story about Sheep Hill as I’ve lived here for 10 years and had no idea of some of the tragedies that have happened on it’s slopes. I would have liked to learn more about what is currently going on with the hill, and if the company now using it for cinder, plans on completely leveling the hill or what? The Navajo name for the hill is Dibe’ Dah Shije’e and means, sheep lie up on an elevation. (Navajo Place Names: An Observers Guide). I am guessing either the Navajos or early sheep company grazed sheep on that hill. The idea that there was a ski lift on it is hilarious!