American tour guide, 23, knocked down and killed in Italy as she went jogging with her iPod

An Ohio woman was found dead in a canal in Tuscany today, three days after she disappeared while out jogging.



Allison Owens, 23, who was working as a tour guide in Italy, is thought to have been victim of a hit and run driver as she ran beside the road in San Giovanni Valdarno.



Her body was found by a passer-by partly submerged in water. Police said that she was still wearing her iPod headphones.



Tragedy: Allison Owens was found dead in a canal beside the road in San Giovanni Valdarno today

Officers believe she may not have heard the car approaching. They are not ruling out other possible reasons for her death though.



Owens had arrived in the town on Saturday to stay with friends and was last seen at 3pm the next day.

Police searched the area using tracker dogs after her friends raised the alarm on Monday morning.



Owens had been working in Italy as a tour guide for Californian travel company Backroads.



Her mother flew into Florence this morning and is expected to identify the body late today.



Death: A coffin containing the body of Owens is carried away

Accident: Police said that Owens may not have heard the car that killed her because she was running with iPod earphones

'This is an unbelievable tragedy that's come to this family,' Cynthia Richardson, a neighbour of the Owens family in Columbus, told FoxNews.com. 'She was an angel from the day she was born.'



Owens is a graduate of Southern Methodist University.



Friends paid tribute to her on a Facebook group that had been set up to appeal for information when she was missing.



'Allison was a beautiful girl who obviously loved life and lived it to the fullest,' wrote one.

