TCH accident victim confirmed as Allison Smith, 18, reported missing

Police have confirmed that a woman found dead Thursday in a highway accident near the Foxtrap Access Road is Allison Smith,18, a Memorial University student reported missing earlier in the week.

The Royal Newfoundland Constabulary and RCMP were called to the Trans-Canada Highway just east of the weigh scales after a report of a car over the embankment.

They closed the westbound lane, while investigators checked the crash site, and issued a news release late afternoon saying Smith had been found deceased.

Equipment was brought in to remove the vehicle around 4:30 Thursday.

Smith was last seen leaving a party on the MUN campus in St. John's around 1 a.m. Tuesday. She was reported missing after failing to show up at an appointment 9 a.m. that day in Clarenville, where her family lives.

The RNC said the site had been checked previously, but a patrol officer from the Mount Pearl division discoveredthe car while doing another check on Thursday.

The car veered off the roadshortly before the guard railingbegins along that stretch of highway. There is a cross memorial a short distance from where the vehicle was found.

People on the scene said the stretch of highway is a dangerous one, and there have been accidents there before.

In 2015, Sheldon Quinton drove his truck over the same area while driving to his job at Bull Arm. The pickup was located by his friends who combed the side of the highway after reporting him missing.

• TCH crash fatality identified by friends as missing person Sheldon Quinton

In a letter to students, staff and Smith's family,Memorial University president GaryKachanoskiasked that anyone in need ofcounsellingor support stop by a drop-in centre on Friday inUC-4002from 12 to 2 p.m.

"Allison Smith was a new student at Memorial, and I offer my deepest condolences to her family, friends and loved ones, and to all of you who may have known Allison," Kachanoskiwrote.