Valemount RCMP seeks information about Merritt councillor’s death
Posted July 5, 2023 4:53 pm.
Last Updated July 5, 2023 5:02 pm.
The Valemount RCMP is asking for anyone with information to come forward after a 46-year-old woman from Merritt died in a crash Tuesday night.
In a statement from the City of Merritt, it confirmed that Coun. Claire Newman “unexpectedly passed away” while travelling outside of Valemount and adds that she was struck by a vehicle.
Mounties say officers responded to crash on Highway 16 near Lucerne Lake after a cell phone crash notification went off.
Officers found a Nissan Frontier that was running and unlocked, and police add there was a dog inside.
“A closer examination of the scene showed a woman, in the ditch down an embankment near the vehicle. Sadly, she was deceased,” a news release reads.
Mounties say the 46-year-old woman “may have been outside of her car and was struck by a vehicle.”
No other vehicles were in the area, police say, but add that a “headlight assembly” from a grey 2016 to 2018 Jeep Cherokee was found.
“We encourage the driver to contact the police,” RCMP notes.
Mounties ask anyone with information or dash cam footage between 11 p.m. on Tuesday and just after midnight on Wednesday morning to call the Valemount RCMP at (250) 566-4466.
