Disappearance of Emma Fillipoff

Emma Fillipoff (born January 6, 1986) has been missing since Nov 28, 2012, vanishing from in front of the Empress Hotel in Victoria, British Columbia, at the age of 26.

Disappearance

Fillipoff was last seen in the immediate vicinity of the Empress hotel in Victoria between 7:30 and 8:30 on November 28, 2012. She was observed being interviewed by Victoria police. Her red Mazda MPV '93 van was found in the Chateau Victoria parking lot with almost all her belongings in it, including her passport, library card, digital camera, clothes, a pillow, assorted ornaments, laptop, and recently borrowed library books. It is believed she used the van as storage.

Fillipoff's disappearance was the subject of a Canadian Broadcasting Corporation television program, The Fifth Estate.^[1]

Circumstances of disappearance

Fillipoff arrived in Victoria from Ontario in the fall of 2011. She had brief employment at the Red Fish Blue Fish seasonal seafood restaurant in Victoria’s Inner Harbour. She left the job on October 31, 2012, as the work was seasonal. She assured co-workers she would be back in the Spring.^[2]

Unknown to family, Fillipoff had stayed at the Sandy Merriman House women's shelter on and off since February.^[3] On November 23 Fillipoff was captured on security video at the Victoria YMCA, entering, then leaving, then entering multiple times as if avoiding someone on the outside.^[4]

Early on the day of November 28, Fillipoff was captured on a 7-Eleven store video on Government Street purchasing a pre-paid cell phone.^[5] She later hailed a taxi and asked to be taken to the airport, however she left the taxi for lack of adequate fare. ^[6]She reportedly left the Sandy Merriman House women’s shelter about 6 p.m. that day.^[7] She returned to the 7-Eleven store to buy a pre-paid credit card. Later, she was seen walking barefoot in front of the Empress hotel. An acquaintance of hers, Dennis Quay,^[8] called 911 to say a woman was in severe distress outside the hotel.^[9]

Victoria police arrived and spent 45 minutes talking to her. They got her name and decided that she was not a threat to herself or anyone else. They released her and no one has seen her since 7:45 pm that night.

Investigators explored more than 200 leads, turning up minimal information. Most evidence indicates she was planning to return home to Ottawa, but there’s no proof she ever left the city. The credit card^[10] was allegedly found on the side of the road by a stranger to the north of where Fillipoff disappeared, whom the police tracked by the purchase of cigarettes with the card.^[2] The cellphone she bought had never been activated.

Possible leads

The Campbell River Courier-Islander newspaper reported in May 2014 that in Gastown, Vancouver, business owners Joel and Lori Sellen witnessed a man in their store throwing out a “missing” poster.^[11] The store owners reported that it was a $25,000 reward poster for Fillipoff, and that the man said: "It’s one of those missing persons posters, except she’s not missing, she’s my girlfriend and she ran away ‘cause she hates her parents." The owners immediately called the police, and security video captured an image of the man.

See also

• People who disappeared in 2012

References

External links

• Find Emma Fillipoff's facebook page