Body of missing Ohio student Allison 'Ally' Willen found in New Zealand a week after she went missing on hike in national park

Mike Gallagher

May 4, 2015 - 06:33

May 4, 2015 - 06:47

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Body of missing Ohio student Allison 'Ally' Willen found in New Zealand a week after she went missing on hike in national park

Allison 'Ally' Willen from Akron, Ohio, went on an expedition with her two flatmates on the Gillespie Pass in Mount Aspiring National Park when they were suddenly hit by bad weather on April 25.The 20-year-old, who was taking a semester abroad a

A student who went missing while on a hike with friends in a New Zealand national park has been found dead in a river.

Allison 'Ally' Willen from Akron, Ohio, went on an expedition with her two flatmates on the Gillespie Pass in Mount Aspiring National Park when they were suddenly hit by bad weather on April 25.

The 20-year-old, who was taking a semester abroad at the University of Otago in Dunedin, then became separated from the pair who managed to walk to safety and ask for help.

Her body was discovered on Saturday high up in the valley near a backpack and raincoat that had been found earlier in the week.

A family spokesman said on Facebook: '[Ally] has been found and is coming home. We are so very grateful for this and continue to feel the enormous amounts of love, support and prayer from the entire community. You can never know how this lifts our spirits.'

Ally's father Todd and uncle Jeff Henry flew from Akron to Queenstown on Tuesday to help authorities searched for the youngster.

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Allison 'Ally' Willen from Akron, Ohio, went on an expedition with her two flatmates a week ago has been found dead in a New Zealand national park

Mr Henry told The Southland Times the search teams looking for his niece, who had suffered setbacks because of the weather, had been 'spectacular', with all indications suggesting her disappearance was 'not survivable'.

'Our family has fallen in love with everything New Zealand stands for,' he added.

The search teams were forced to wait for three days as the water levels subsided.

Ally's mother, Michelle, told Cleveland.com on Friday that she was expecting the worse.

'I know that she's gone and it's just her body, but it's a body that I loved for 20 years,' her mother said. 'I want it back.

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The 20-year-old, who was taking a semester abroad at the University of Otago in Dunedin, then became separated from the pair who managed to walk to safety and ask for help

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A spokesman for the family (pictured) said on Facebook Ally (center) had been found and is now 'coming home

'She would want us to be celebrating her life right now.'

Mrs Willen paid tribute to her daughter, describing her as an 'old soul' who had volunteered in orphanages in Tanzania, Guatemala and Malawi.

She was a third-year student at Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Florida, and was due to retu after completing a stint in New Zealand.

On February 23, Ally posted a quote from Anthony Bourdain on her Facebook which read: 'Travel isn't always pretty. It isn't always comfortable. Sometimes it hurts, it even breaks your heart.

'But that's okay. The jouey changes you; it should change you. It leaves marks on your memory, on your consciousness, on your heart, and on your body. You take something with you. Hopefully, you leave something good behind.'

After completing the Kepler Track - a popular hiking trail near the town of Te Anau - she wrote: 'I didn't know that so much beauty could exist in one place.'