Missing ASU Student’s Body Found – Autopsy to be Performed in Winston-Salem

By Staff
The baffling and heartbreaking disappearance of Appalachian State freshman, Ann Smith, ended on Saturday when her body was located in a wooded area adjacent to the Boone campus. According to the Boone police they were summoned about 10:30am on Saturday by a resident of Poplar Grove Rd in Boone who reported a suspicious odor. Anna Smith’s body was sound a short time later. Police have refused to comment about why the body was no located during the initial searches for Anna, even though dogs were used in the effort.

An autopsy at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center will establish the cause of death, but two sources familiar with the scene told the Charlotte Observer that it appeared Ms. Smith asphyxiated herself. Boone police would not confirm the account, but did indicate that Ms. Smith’s drivers’ license and her student ID card were found with her body along with her red leather purse and backpack.

Smith, an 18-year-old history major from High Point, had reportedly been dealing with a personal crisis stemming from an alledged sexual assault during in her first weeks at the college. Campus investigators, however, told reporters that there was no physical evidence of an assault although Ms. Smith told her parents and others such an assault had occurred.

Anna smith was last seen Sept. 2nd when she took a Mountaineer SafeRide from the Holmes Convocation Center. She was dropped off in a parking lot at Mountaineer Hall about 10:30pm according to logs.

Two searches were completed by local law enforcement- one with bloodhounds, on a 64-acre nature preserve thick with mountain laurel that lies between Mountaineer Hall and Kidd Brewer Stadium. Ms. Smith’s body was found in an area on the other side of Mountaineer Hall, approximately 300 yards into the woods.