SCOTTSDALE, AZ — Arizona Crime Uncovered is an ABC15 series working to bring awareness to victims who are still waiting for justice and to provide an in-depth look at cases that are still unfolding.
Each episode of Arizona Crime Uncovered breaks down a timeline of the case, where it stands now, and if any help is needed from the community.
This episode covers the mysterious death of Ben Anderson. The questions of who killed the 41-year-old and why haunt his loved ones, especially this time of year. His life was mysteriously cut short on New Year's Eve in 2021. Anderson's body was found in the middle of the desert, near New River off Table Mesa Road, on fire. The case has been full of mysterious twists with pieces of evidence sprinkled throughout the Valley.
As the three-year mark in the investigation nears, ABC15 sat down with Anderson's friends who have never stopped fighting for answers or justice.
Watch all three parts of this episode in the player above.
WHERE IS BEN?
"I can just remember being kids driving around in my old Toyota with the windows open and the sunroof open," said Anderson's friend Daniel Stahoviak.
He said almost everywhere in the Valley, he has a memory with Anderson.
"One of the things that he loved to show me is where he grew up," said another friend Susan Dzbanko. "So, we would drive to his grandma's house and the street that he grew up on and just drive around. One time he took me all the way to Mesa, like east Mesa, because he wanted to show me something."
Stahoviak and Dzbako describe Anderson as someone who would talk to anyone. When they share stories, their faces transition from huge smiles to tears in their eyes. Anderson's story is full of positive memories, but now also terrifying moments for his loved ones.
On New Year's Eve in 2021, Anderson abruptly canceled brunch plans with Stahoviak and others.
"I remember it was 8 [a.m.] on the dot," said Stahoviak. "He called me, or I called him, but we were on the phone for maybe less than a minute. He said, ‘Oh, I'm not feeling great. Do you mind if I cancel?’ And I just let him cancel."
Shortly after, Anderson's friends told ABC15 that he stopped answering his phone or responding. Stahoviak said around 5 p.m. that evening, he got a call from Anderson's aunt asking if anyone had heard from her nephew. The call prompted Stahoviak to head to Anderson's home to try to check in.
"I knocked, no answer," said Stahoviak. "He wasn't one to leave the lights on, like that was the other thing, too."
Close enough with Anderson to have a key, Stahoviak opened the door.
"I yelled for him, and he wasn't in there," described Stahoviak. "And his clothes were on the floor right next to the front door. And I just remember this vividly, to the left was a countertop. On the sink countertop were his credit cards and cash, just almost like tossed there."
His friends and family filed a missing person case with Phoenix police and desperately tried to track the GPS on his Lexus. Stahoviak and Dzbanko said that the company would only give information to law enforcement.
A group of Anderson's friends got a tip from a dispatcher that police were looking for the car at a hotel off I-17 in Phoenix. But, when they showed up, the car was nowhere to be found.
The group, including Stahoviak, kept driving and stumbled across the car at a nearby hotel inside the parking garage.
"We slowed down, and there were people standing around the Lexus," said Stahoviak. "Two of them on the outside. There was one person inside. I had [Anderson's] plate number because I was able to get it from his aunt. I saw the plate, and I said, ‘oh my God, that's his car.’"
The group started chasing the Lexus, which they said sped out of the parking garage.
"We just found the car, and it is not our friend that's in the car," said Anderson's friend Amanda Smith in a 911 call.
Smith, in the call, described the chase that followed. Eventually, when it felt too unsafe, the group stopped pursuing.
"Oh my God, that's his car, and it is not him," said Smith on the call. "They're young kids. They are young."
After losing sight of the car and the GPS connection dropping, the Lexus was ultimately found in a shared parking lot right next to the hotel where Anderson's friends originally found the car.
"I still remember just coming around this parking lot and finding the car burnt," said Stahoviak. "And we just, instinctively, sort of knew that that was it."
What Anderson's friends didn't know at the time was his body had already been found, and the mystery of what happened on New Year's Eve was only just starting to unravel.
DISCOVERY IN THE DESERT
Body camera video released in 2024 details the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office call to the desert when people in the area spotted Anderson. He was on fire under a hill off Table Mesa Road.
"He might have slipped and fell," said a deputy who responded to the scene at the time. "But I don't know what would have set him on fire, you know, or why it would be on fire. I think we have a dead body here."
Ultimately the Daisy Moutain Fire Department showed up to assist, but the body camera shows the deputy making other observations.
"There looks like there's hair on his legs," said the deputy to a supervisor on the phone. "And he's got like, fishnet stockings on."
The deputy also said at the top of the hill, directly above where Anderson was found, he believed there was blood.
"So, I think we might have something here," said the deputy.
While this all happened on New Year's Eve, it would be days until the body was confirmed to be Anderson. Friends, including Stahoviak and Dzbanko, were there as detectives first told his family.
"The detective basically said, yes, and it was him," said Dzbanko. "And he was going to set up interviews with all of us to, you know, figure out what's what."
"His mom kept saying to the detectives, she wanted to see the body," said Stahoviak. "They said, you don't want to see [his] body."
The parking lot where Anderson's car was found is located just off of a canal.
"For the first six months, I would say, we traced the steps," said Stahoviak. "We walked the canals."
"We’re going to figure it out, and we're going to piece it together," said Dzbanko, describing their mindset at that time.
Loved ones even raised $25,000 as reward money for information in the case.
"We raised so much money, and we even went so far as contemplating hiring a private investigator, because the case seemed to stall and stall," said Dzbanko. "And really, we're helpless. We're absolutely helpless."
Two years passed, but with 2024 came new hope and new frustrations.
PERSONS OF INTEREST
January of 2024 marked two years into the investigation. Just days into the New Year, ABC15 spoke with Anderson's friends as MCSO released more information about the case than ever before.
"Little updates along the way from family and stuff but not like this," said Smith during an interview that month.
At that time, the agency confirmed they had persons of interest in the case and planned to submit charging recommendations to the Maricopa County Attorney's Office.
Detectives at that time said they were still combing through digital data and records. ABC15 was told, regardless, that MCSO would be submitting charges against the alleged suspects to MCAO.
"I think grief is extremely complicated, right?" said Smith. "And grieving a loved one that was murdered is even more complicated."
She said getting little pieces of evidence in the case along the way has been hard to process.
"It's hard to try to be patient," said Smith.
Months passed, but in March, Anderson's friends found themselves seeing the initial call near New River for the first time. That's when MCSO released body camera footage in the case.
"We knew that his body was lit on fire, but it's one thing to hear it," said Dzbanko. “It's something else entirely to see it."
They told ABC15 the body camera footage came out without warning from officials.
ABC15 checked in frequently with MCSO over the summer, but the months came and went.
In September, more details were confirmed by detectives including a piece of evidence that was found. MCSO confirmed Anderson's cell phone had been discovered just three months after his death. MCSO would only say the phone was found in a Valley canal by a good Samaritan.
"There's probably evidence on the phone of who he was in contact with," said Dzbanko in an interview that month. "Where he was meeting them, who he was meeting, what they were going to do. And I think that information is probably very critical into the timeline of events."
ABC15 asked his friends about the phone, car, and Anderson all being found in different locations.
"Although I don't know who did it," said Dzbanko, "I imagine that it's someone that probably has a history of violence and a criminal past."
In September, with the three-year mark just around the corner, detectives told ABC15 they were still trying to get the paperwork in the case finalized to present to the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office. But, at that time, they were waiting for “forensic examinations” to be completed. ABC15 was told that included the phone.
Our team sent a list of questions to MCSO ahead of our Arizona Crime Uncovered episode airing. The Sheriff's Office did confirm that detectives have collected "numerous hours of video footage from many different establishments/businesses that are deemed as evidence.”
"While the Case Agent has stated they would like to have the case ready for submittal by the end of the year, a deadline has not been set in this case other than when the best possible case is assembled and organized it shall be submitted to the MCAO," said MCSO via email.
Anderson's friends want the community to know there is still a $25,000 reward for information being offered.
"Somebody knows something," said Dzbanko. "And maybe now that it's been so many years, they might feel more comfortable talking about it."
As the group waits and hopes for answers, they know the grief and pain of losing Anderson will be with them for life.
On big occasions, like Stahoviak starting law school, Anderson's loved ones think of him.
"On the 31st, I think all of us kind of feel it," said Smith. "Because it's just one more month that he's been gone. It's one more month without answers. It's one more month we're waiting for justice, for charges to be filed. It's just a really long time to be waiting for these things, and it's really hard. And knowing he's not here for the holidays is also hard."
"I think I can speak for absolutely all of us," said Dzbanko. "Everybody who knew him, who loved him, will fight for justice for him until our very last breath."
ABC15 is committed to following up on this case, and our team will continue to cover updates here as part of our Arizona Crime Uncovered series.
Watch previous episodes of Arizona Crime Uncovered in the player below: