Italian police are investigating the death of a young Ohio woman whose body was found Wednesday in Italy, three days after she disappeared while out jogging.
Allison Owens, 23, who was working as a tour guide in Italy, is thought to have been struck by a vehicle as she ran by the side of a road in the Tuscan town of San Giovanni Valdarno, south of Florence. Investigators have not ruled out other possible reasons for her death, Italian news agency ANSA reported Wednesday.
“This is an unbelievable tragedy that’s come to this family,” Cynthia Kinman, a neighbor of the Owens family in Columbus, told FoxNews.com. “She was an angel from the day she was born.”
Owens, a graduate of Southern Methodist University, arrived in the town Saturday to stay with friends and was last seen a day later at around 3:00 p.m. local time. A large search was launched Monday involving police with sniffer dogs and civil protection units.
Her body was discovered half-submerged in a drainage ditch by a passerby. The ditch is not visible from passing vehicles, according to multiple Italian media reports.
Richardson said Owens was working as a tour guide for a California-based travel company called Backroads.
Owens’ mother reportedly arrived at Florence airport Wednesday morning and was expected to be en route to San Giovanni Valdarno. Official identification and an autopsy are pending.
Susan Lasley, Head of School at Village Academy in Powell, Ohio, where Owens attended high school, described the young woman as an “exemplary student.”
“She just brightened everyone’s day,” Lasley said. “All of the alumni are devastated.”
Newscore contributed to this report.
Ali Owens was working as a tour guide…
