Mother grieving loss of daughter who died after car went off cliff near Prescott

PRESCOTT, AZ (AZFamily) — “It kills me to think that I will bury my child first,” said Jinger Cutting. “That should not be the case.”

Prescott Valley resident Jinger Cutting said no parent should outlive their child.

Earlier this month, Cutting went on a girls’ trip with her daughters Jessica and Kristin Little to celebrate Kris’s 39th birthday.

But now, Cutting is planning a funeral for Kris, whose life was cut short last Friday.

“I wish God would have taken me first. God needed Krissy. She is an absolute angel. She was an angel on this earth for 39 years and now she’ll be an angel in heaven,” said Cutting.

The Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office said deputies responded to the Thumb Butte area in Prescott, approximately two miles from Copper Basin Road, around 5 p.m. for a report of a vehicle falling off a cliff.

YCSO told Arizona’s Family they received an alert about the incident from Kris’s Apple Watch. Later, deputies found Kris’s vehicle about 1,000 ft. down from the mountainside.

It’s reported Kris had been thrown from the vehicle. Cutting said Kris’s dog, CJ, was found alive next to her daughter’s body. She believes CJ was ejected through an open window before her daughter. CJ was uninjured.

“To know CJ will be here with us for the balance of her life, that gives me great comfort,” said Cutting.

Due to the darkness and rough terrain, deputies had to wait until sunrise to recover Kris’s body. They never left her side.

“Those rescuers stayed with my daughter all night long and that meant the world to me,” said Cutting.

Cutting finds comfort in her memories of Kris, whom she describes as a free spirit who loved nature.

“She loved life to a maximum. She did everything with her complete heart,” said Cutting. “She was a wonderful girl. She was everything. She was the light of my life. She was full of positive energy all of the time.”

Kris was a Real Estate Agent in Prescott, but she loved to spend her time outdoors.

Cutting said her daughter loved camping and hiking with CJ. The two were inseparable, she said.

Cutting said that at one point, Kris used to watch the sunset almost every day at a lookout spot in Thumb Butte. Cutting said that’s what her daughter was doing last Friday, and she had bumped into some high school friends.

When everyone left, Cutting said her daughter went back down the Thumb Butte side which is very difficult, but Kris had driven her truck that way all the time.

“Hug your children, please, every day. Hug those babies because you don’t know when you’re going to see them again,” said Cutting.

Cutting said the outpouring of support from the community following her daughter’s death has been “overwhelmingly beautiful.”

A celebration of life is being planned for Sept. 15 near Watson Lake in Prescott. A time has not been set.

Cutting said she plans to create a foundation in Kris and CJ’s names to help with rescue efforts for Parks and Rec. Her first priority is to have a guardrail installed in the area of the incident to keep other families safe.

YCSO is currently investigating the incident.

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