Coquitlam RCMP announced on Wednesday that the search for 14-year-old Noelle O’Soup – who passed by Ellie – “has reached a tragic end”. O’Soup was ignored on May 12, 2021, and Mounties said Wednesday that she was found dead in Vancouver. The RCMP did not say whether it considered her death suspicious, adding that the Vancouver Police Department was “currently investigating” the circumstances surrounding him. In a statement Wednesday, the VPD said O’Soup’s remains were discovered May 1 this year inside an apartment building at 405 Heatley St. “Earlier today, we met privately with Noelle’s family and informed them of this tragic news,” the department said. “We will continue to provide her family with information as this investigation progresses.” Vancouver police said the BC Medical Examiner’s Office is investigating the cause and the VPD’s Major Crime Division is “investigating the circumstances surrounding O’Soup’s death.” Investigators have not ruled out crime in the case, police said, adding that “active and ongoing” investigations limit how much detail can be shared publicly. “Noelle’s death will raise many questions in the community and we are committed to finding answers,” the VPD said. “If, during this investigation, we find that there is a risk to public safety, we will immediately inform the public.” O’Soup left her home in Port Coquitlam around dinner time on the day she was last seen, according to the RCMP. Police had previously said she was “not allowed to leave”, but did not specify what that meant, declining to answer questions about her condition. Mountis said she was known to spend time downstream, including Vancouver. Police issued several appeals seeking information on the girl’s whereabouts and posted new photos in January, hoping for new information. At the time, investigators said they were publishing surveillance camera photos in the hope that the investigation would move forward. They did not say whether they believed the person in the photos was O’Soup or whether they believed the person was someone else with ties to her. In the latest update on the investigation before Wednesday, Coquitlam RCMP said the photos had created new tips, but that they had all been searched and the girl had not yet been located. The RCMP estimates that between 70,000 and 80,000 people are reported missing each year in Canada, and says most are found within seven days. The latest available data are from 2020. At that time, BC had the highest number of adult disappearances per capita at 239 per 100,000 people. The province did not have the highest rate of missing children and young people, but had a total of 5,870 reports that year. Indigenous women and girls are disproportionately represented in these reports. According to the Assembly of First Nations, 11 percent of missing persons are Indigenous, despite the fact that Indigenous peoples make up only about 4.3 percent of Canada’s population. The current data is believed to indicate the scale of the issue, AFN says. The RCMP said indigenous women accounted for 10 percent of cases in which a woman was ignored for at least 30 days, a statistic based on a 2015 report. Many of these women were identified as missing “due to” unknown “circumstances or suspicions of obscene play “. With files from CTV News Vancouver’s Kendra Mangione
