VIDEO: The Missing Body of Amber Smith is Found

MONROE COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI) – Memorial Day weekend, a group of friends left their home in Illinois, headed for Florida, but on May 30th, their car left the highway, crashing into Town Creek in Tupelo.

Back in Illinois, family and friends were worried. The two couples never made it to Florida.

It was not until a fisherman discovered their car in the water, that recovery teams were called.

Three people were located. Three families were notified.

For more than a week, the fourth person in the car, Amber Smith has been missing.

The sun was finally shining when the call came in this morning from the Aberdeen Lock and Dam.

The 24-year old had been found.

The family and friends of a young Illinois woman have closure.

“We can confirm the body is Amber Smith and we have contacted her family in Illinois,” says Lee County Coroner Carolyn Green.

“At 9:16 this morning, the lock-master at the Aberdeen Lock and Dam, notified officials that he spotted what seemed to be a body. It was in the gates at the Lock and Dam at the Aberdeen Lock on the north-side,” says Monroe County Coroner Alan Gurley.

The Mississippi Department of Wildlife Fisheries and Parks pulled her from the water Wednesday morning.

“They came out and got a boat and went out and made the removal. About 10:25, they were able to get the body in the boat and we recovered her about 10:45 and removed her from the scene. At that time, we had notified the Lee County coroner,” says Gurley.

The current took Smith’s body almost 40 miles away from the original crash site in Tupelo.

“Unfortunately, with the bad weather, we’ve had limited progress up in Lee County and I’m just relieved that she was found so near to Lee County so that we had a team working effort and that we could close the case,” says Green.

Part of Carolyn Green’s job is to notify the family.

She says while they are upset, the news brings them a sense of relief and closure.

“I believe that they were at the point where they were about to come down here and start working on their own, even though they know we’ve done everything that we possibly could do as far as manpower, bringing in other resources from other areas. I can’t say enough about the Tupelo Fire Department’s effort in getting in that creek and bringing in other individuals and the cadaver dogs. They’ve worked tirelessly on that.”

Heather Uhren, Terrance Wege, Jr., and Sean Haygood also died in the accident.

Haygood’s sister, Heather, tells WCBI that her family appreciates the community’s kindness and passionate words for the four friends, whose road trip ended tragically.

The families have set up GoFundMe accounts to help cover costs of transportation and burial.

Links to the accounts are below:

Amber Smith – https://www.gofundme.com/amber-smith

Heather Uhren – https://www.gofundme.com/heather-marie

Sean Haygood – https://www.gofundme.com/sean-haygood