Dog lost in fatal Coquihalla crash located alive

Update: 7 p.m.

Glacier Media has confirmed the dog has been found.

"What happened here is the most amazing story," says Will Hoogstraten, noting his dog Mia followed Jayda's scent "like a champ."

A post on the Coquihalla Road Reports (And Area) Facebook group Wednesday evening announced, “JAYDA HAS BEEN FOUND!”.

It thanks everyone who posted updates, called and texted and makes special mention of the generosity of pipeline workers and the Kiewit Corporation in helping to reunite the dog with her family.

“We cannot thank you all enough for keeping an eye out and letting us know when you had seen her. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you so so much!” said the family member in her update.

A witness who drove up to the area Wednesday to help in the search witnessed the reunion. He says Jayda was found in the Carolin Mine area.

With a file from Castanet

Original: 10 a.m.

The mother of a woman who died in a vehicle collision on the Coquihalla Highway Tuesday is desperately searching for her daughter's dog who went missing in the crash. 

Lianne Hoogstraten, the deceased woman's mother, has taken to social media hoping the public can help find the dog after the tragedy. 

"We lost our daughter today on the Coquihalla,” Hoogstraten said in a Facebook post. "Her dog is loose still.”

BC Emergency Health Services (BCEHS) confirmed with Glacier Media personnel responded to a call at 8:33 a.m. Tuesday, about a motor vehicle incident on the Coquihalla Highway north of Hope.

The collision occurred in the southbound lanes just before the Carolin Mine Road exit.

Cpl. Mike Moore with BC Highway Patrol says the crash involved a car and a commercial flatbed truck. One person was pronounced dead at the scene. 

Hoogstraten says she’s travelling to the area and describes the dog as a ‘shy’ Rottweiler female named Jayda. 

“If anyone has any more recent info please help us find her,” she says. 

The woman’s brother, Will Hoogstraten, is thanking everyone for trying to find the dog.

“We are obviously sincerely grateful for everything,” he says. “The response has been absolutely insane. We’re very, very grateful.”

Will describes the dog as shy and that it can be recognized by its full tail.

“She’s not aggressive at all, that she is kind of skeptical to approach new people,” he says.

The family has travelled from Armstrong to Chilliwack to search for the dog.

Many people shared sightings of a dog on the Coquihalla Highway but as of Wednesday morning, the dog still has not been found.

Police are asking the public if they see the dog to not try and exit their vehicles on the busy highway, but instead call police.

“We certainly don’t want anyone getting injured or worse trying to corral the dog should it be located,” says Moore.
 
Anyone who sees the dog can contact Chilliwack RCMP at 604-792-4611 and reference file number 2023-31159. The public can also report any sightings to the family by texting 604-997-6465.