Camelback Mountain hiker found dead; I suspected foul play from beginning

Long story, but I was in Phoenix last weekend for a bachelor trip. On Friday, we hiked Camelback Mountain. It was very hot that day and the Echo Canyon Trail is pretty steep.

We began the hike at around 9:20 a.m. Halfway up the mountain, I looked behind me and noticed a muscular, shirtless gentleman with a slender girl. The girl appeared to be caucasian. She was wearing a black sports bra and black shorts. The man had tattoos down his arms. I noticed that they were having a conversation but I could not hear what they were saying. It did not appear to be a happy conversation based upon the body language/gestures that I observed.

The man then walked up the mountain and the girl appeared to turn around (presumably to head back down the mountain). As the man approached me, I said something to the effect of "are we getting close to the top? It's hot out here." He ignored me, which stuck out in my mind because everyone else on the trail that day had been very friendly and talkative. We summited at approximately 11:00 a.m. Neither me, nor any of my 7 friends who were with me remember seeing him come back down the trail. I probably only saw 20 other hikers that day, so I would have remembered seeing him come back down the trail.

I got to the base of the mountain with one of my friends at approximately 12:20 p.m. Two of my other friends got to the bottom at approximately 12:30; the remaining 3 friends got to the bottom before the rest of us at approximately 12:05 p.m.

When I got to the bottom, the muscular gentleman was there at the base of the mountain. He was pacing around but not talking to anyone. My friends who got to the bottom first said that he was talking to some African-American gentlemen about the Eurocup soccer tournament that recently took place. They said he was very nonchalant. A few minutes after I arrived at the bottom, the athletic gentleman disappeared for probably 7-15 minutes. I do not know where he went, but at the timed I assumed he'd gone to the restroom.

He then returned, walked up to me and my friends, and asked if we'd "seen a girl in a black tank top and black shorts" on our way down. We said that we had not. He then, unsolicited, said "I can't find the girl I was with. She's not my girlfriend or anything... just some friend from out of town." I found that bizarre, even in the moment, because no one asked him who she was. He then stated that he had "been calling her but she hadn't answered the phone." I noted that he had an Eastern European accent. We left shortly after. My friend's Uber arrived at 12:34 p.m. I left several minutes later in our rental car.

In the Phoenix airport on Sunday while waiting to board my flight, one of my friends and I were looking through the pictures from the trip. By chance, my friend had taken a picture at the exact moment they they split up halfway up the mountain. The picture was taken at 10:36 a.m.

I called Phoenix PD on Monday morning and got a call back from Homicide Detective Anthony Winter. I told him everything I know and emailed him the picture.

I have since learned the following:

-the man is Dario Dizdar; he is a police officer with Phoenix PD
-he is Croatian
-he is married with two children
-the girl, Angela Tramonte, is someone he's been chatting with on Instagram for the past two months; Angela was from Saugus, MA
-Angela came to Phoenix on Thursday evening to meet Dizdar in person for the first time; she was dead less than 24 hours after she got there

Last night, this story was released by Phoenix's local ABC station:

New info contradict's Phoenix officer's statement after death of hiker

The motherfricker initially told park rangers that he "hikes the mountain all the time" and is "very familiar with the trail." He then told detectives that "this was his first time on Camelback Mountain" and "he got lost and had to get an Uber back to the base of the mountain." I'm convinced that after he proceeded up the mountain past us, he circled back, killed her, dumped her body where it was found (in the backyard of a home at the base of the mountain, which did not appear to be accessible from the mountain side), and then got an Uber back to the bottom of the mountain to try and build an alibi. My friends and I just so happened to be the people with whom he attempted to build his alibi.