A New York college student who went missing in January has been found dead in her car at the bottom of a cliff in Arizona – believed to have driven to her death.
Jessica Ronhock, 21, of Mashpee, Massachusetts, vanished from Elmira College in New York on January 10 after she left a note for her roommate saying she had to leave campus for a family emergency.
But the girl’s confused family said they didn’t know the 21-year-old had left her school – and there was no emergency.
After sending her family a journal of a ‘disheartening nature’ weeks after her disappearance police feared she was headed to the Grand Canyon.
Police found Ronhock’s body yesterday in her wrecked white Jeep in a ditch about 200 yards beneath a scenic overlook on Interstate 17, south of Flagstaff, Arizona.
Authorities are trying to determine exactly when the crash happened but it is believed to be least two months ago.
The 21-year-old was reported missing on January 19 after she left a note for her roommate saying she was going home for a ‘family emergency.’
But the girl’s confused family said they didn’t know the 21-year-old had left her school – and there was no emergency.
In the first days after disappearing police were able to trace Ronhock to Florida, Texas and north and south Arizona by monitoring her credit-card activity.
Further promising leads came when they determined that the student stayed for two days at a campground in Chattahoochee, Florida.
Security video showed her driving alone in her white Jeep on January 15 in Baytown,Texas.
On January 22, Miss Ronhock’s family received a private journal from the woman that was mailed from Williams, Arizona.
Police described the entries as being of ‘a disheartening nature,’ and believe she may be heading to the Grand Canyon.
While evidence indicated that Miss Ronhock was travelling by herself, police said that she is making her hotel and camping reservations for two people.
But fears grew as the trail of evidence to her whereabouts went cold in early February.
