Student Killed in Missouri Motorcycle Accident

Columbia, MOA 20-year-old student at the University of Missouri - Columbia recently died in a Missouri motorcycle accident.

Caitlin Valora riding on a motorcycle driven by 21-year-old Aaron Hansberry in Columbia, Missouri, according to the Columbia Missourian. The pair were driving on East Nifong Boulevard, approaching a T-intersection.

According to police, the motorcycle struck a curb near the intersection and became airborne, coming to rest about 20 feet from the road. Valora was pronounced dead at the scene. Hansberry was taken to University Hospital with a broken leg.

Mike Valora, Caitlin's father, told Suburban Journals that his daughter taught at an area day car center and loved working with the children.

"I could not be more proud of a child," he said.

Elizabeth Nonnemaker was one of Valora's suitemates at the university. "She always was smiling and a go-getter," she told the news source. "If we were ever sad, we would go shopping or do something fun like that."

There were 960 traffic fatalities in Missouri in 2008, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Association.