TCH crash fatality identified by friends as missing person Sheldon Quinton
Two friends of Sheldon Quinton are unsatisfied with the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary's and RCMP's efforts to locate Quinton whose body was discovered near his vehicle off the Trans-Canada Highway near the Foxtrap Access Road Thursday morning.
Quinton's truck was located by his girlfriend, Kim Carter, and his friend Duane Andrews around 6:30 a.m., at the bottom of a steep embankment off the highway's westbound lanes.
"We were up 5:00 this morning, we left Airport Heights, that's where he left from Monday morning," Andrews told CBC's Cecil Haire at the scene of the crash Thursday morning.
"We drove as far as the Foxtrap Access Road, which is where we found him to, down in the woods."
The RNC issued a missing persons report on Quinton, 42, late Wednesday afternoon.
However, Carter and Andrews said they are unsatisfied with the RNC's efforts to find Quinton.
"It was an hour into it and we found [him]," Carter told CBC News. "The RNC [and] RCMP were not there for us to help us find him ... he was there three days."
'It's hard stuff'
Quinton was last heard from through a text message around 4:55 a.m. Monday when he said he was on his way to work.
Andrews said he and Carter located Quinton's body by tracing his commute to the Bull Arm construction site where he was heading when he went missing on Monday.
Within an hour of slowly driving on the route Quinton takes to work, they spotted his vehicle and debris off the side of the highway.
"We took our time and drove on the curb of the highway, and we spotted the front of his truck with the Chev symbol there and I said, 'Sure enough, there's his truck, there's parts of his truck,'" Andrews said.
"We were really good buddies. It's hard stuff."
RNC passes on condolences
In a news release Thursday, the RNC confirmed its major crime unit was investigating the missing persons report.
"We were following up on leads, checking hospitals, RNC internal records and speaking with family and friends," the release said.
It said officers were in contact with the RCMP "about keeping a check along the highway," but was unsuccessful in the search.
