A 24-year-old Rose Hill woman was killed after her vehicle ran off the road, flipped and hit a tree near Garland late last week.

Information about the fatality, which occurred Friday morning, was not released by Sampson County’s N.C. Highway Patrol office until Tuesday morning.

Vanessa Renee Townsend, 24, of 36 S.H. Peterson Lane, Rose Hill, was the victim of the one-vehicle incident that occurred on Friday morning, Oct. 9, at 2:57 a.m.

According to reports from the Highway Patrol, Townsend was driving north on Johnson Road, roughly seven miles northwest of Garland when she entered a curve and ran off the roadway near Smith Road. Repots show her 1998 Honda ran off the side of the roadway and struck a culvert. Townsend’s vehicle then became airborne, made impact with a tree and continued to travel down the road before coming to rest on its right side facing west.

Investigators indicated that the vehicle traveled 276 feet after striking the culvert.

Townsend, who was not wearing a seatbelt, was pronounced dead at the scene.

While investigators note that weather did not contribute to the accident, the speed at which Townsend was traveling was a factor. She was going approximately 70 mph in a 55 mph zone before approaching the curve. Reports indicate that there were 161 feet of tire impressions before impact.

Townsend is the 21st person killed on Sampson County roadways this year. In 2008, there were only 18 trafic deaths.

This also marks the third death in the county in just eight days.