The mother of the Tucson-area boy who went missing last week died in an apparent suicide Sunday morning, authorities say.
About 5 a.m. on Sept. 27, the body of Danielle Renae Lee-Sharp, 39, was found east of Mammoth with what appeared to be self-inflicted injuries, the Pinal County Sheriff's Department said.
She was found with an unidentified man who also had self-inflicted injuries, the department said. The man was taken to a Tucson hospital, but no further information on his condition was immediately available.
Shortly after reporting Ryker Lee, 15, was missing, Lee-Sharp and the boy's stepfather, Michael Aaron Menzie, 43, were arrested by the Pima County Sheriff's Department on suspicion of multiple counts of child abuse.
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On Sept. 25, three days, after he went missing, Lee was found safe about three miles from the family's residence, the Pima County Sheriff's Department said.
After being found, Lee was turned over to the Department of Child Services. DCS also took custody of his two younger siblings earlier that week, the Pima County Sheriff's Department has said.
An interim complaint filed in the case describes the conditions of the family home as “deplorable and unsanitary."
Investigators say Lee had been locked inside a small room in a recreational vehicle that lacked running water, restroom facilities and air conditioning.
