Body found off QEW identified as Welland man

Victim was previously reported missing by his family, police say

A 44-year-old man from Welland has been identified as the deceased person found in a vehicle on the side of the QEW in Grimsby, the OPP have confirmed.

In a video posted to Twitter on Friday morning, OPP Const. Lauren Ball said the man was previously reported missing by his family.

At about 10:30 a.m. on Thursday, the OPP were called to the QEW Toronto-bound between Bartlett Avenue and Christie Street to investigate a vehicle with a body inside, said Const. Rob Knight of the Niagara detachment of the OPP. Both the Crime Unit and the Technical Collision and Investigation team were dispatched to investigate the scene.

The body was found on the driver’s side of the vehicle. The vehicle was located in thick brush between the highway and a residential area, and was not easily visible.

The OPP have not yet determined how long the vehicle had been sitting there.

Ball said that foul play is not suspected at this point, and more details will emerge as the Highway Safety Division Crime Unit continues the investigation.

The vehicle was first noticed by a resident, who saw what looked

like part of vehicle in the underbrush from their window, said Knight.

“The area that it was found in, there’s a lot of heavy undergrowth and there are residences behind it, but there’s also a large berm for sound barrier, so it’s actually very difficult to see from the highway and the tree was on top of the vehicle making it even more difficult to see,” Knight said.

Knight said the incident was collision related and the investigation was working to determine when that happened and how and why the vehicle left the highway.

The left-lane of the QEW Toronto-bound and the Toronto-bound on-ramp located at Bartlett Avenue were closed at about 12:00 p.m. while the OPP investigated the scene.

Traffic continued to back up, nearly reaching St. Catharines before the leftlane and on-ramp re-opened at about 5:30 p.m. on Thursday.