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00:00:28The
00:00:29The first phone call I received from Emma was on a Friday. It was in the middle of the night.
00:00:39I had just had a bit of a nerve-wracking conversation with one of my other children who was having
00:00:49a rough time.
00:00:52So I was already stressed and finding it difficult to get back to sleep. As a matter of fact, I
00:01:00couldn't go back to sleep.
00:01:05So when the phone rang in the middle of the night again, I just assumed it was my other child
00:01:13calling again.
00:01:17And it wasn't. It was Emma. It was Emma calling.
00:01:25She was crying and she was saying that she wanted to come home. Could she come home?
00:01:36I said, Emma, you have a home. This is your home. This will always be your home.
00:01:44I was trying to calm her down because I wouldn't say she was hysterical, but she was crying a lot.
00:01:52She was really, really distraught.
00:01:56And I wanted to calm her down. So I said, when we get off the phone, Emma, I can't wait
00:02:02to go tell Oscar that you're coming home.
00:02:06Oscar was the one that she loved the most out of the three brothers. And she said, through tears, she
00:02:14said, you don't have to do that. Oscar will already know.
00:02:22It was very Emma. It was very Emma for her to say something like that.
00:02:33I resisted crying on the phone because I didn't think that would be of help to Emma. I wanted to
00:02:39cry. I did not.
00:02:49I stayed up the rest of the night.
00:03:09The next morning I was supposed to tutor a student, but because of that phone call, and I had a
00:03:17feeling I would hear from Emma again and soon,
00:03:25I asked the father that he bring his son here to tutor, and when they arrived for the tutoring session,
00:03:34the phone rang again, and it was Emma, and so I indicated to the father that there was an issue,
00:03:44and so he took his son and said, never mind, we know we'll do this again next weekend.
00:03:53So I spoke to Emma.
00:03:55So I spoke to Emma. She wasn't in tears, but she was very distraught. I could tell that there was
00:04:00something very, very wrong, but I didn't know what, and I couldn't ask her because I knew she wouldn't have
00:04:06vaulted, and I thought it might alienate her to some extent and push her away, so I didn't ask what
00:04:11was wrong.
00:04:13I said to her, I said, I booked a ticket to come to Victoria to see you, and she said,
00:04:22no, no, no, don't come. Don't come. I don't need you to come. I just needed to talk to you.
00:04:27Please, please don't come.
00:04:30So, respecting that wish, against my better judgment, I cancelled my flight.
00:04:51The next phone call was Sunday, and we were back to she wanted to come home.
00:05:00Only this time she added that she needed help to come home. She said, I can't do it on my
00:05:06own. She said, I have a van that I need to sell or get fixed up.
00:05:11Maybe I could drive it back. Maybe you could fly one way. We could drive the van back to Ontario.
00:05:19I have so much stuff. I have precious things, Mom. I can't do without them. They have to come with
00:05:25me, and I said, well, I think probably driving the van, if it's not working now, it's probably not the
00:05:32best idea to drive across country in it.
00:05:35We would probably fly, and she said, but I have too many things in it. She said, I have a
00:05:40trunk. I have books. I have pictures. I have Grandpa's old comforter.
00:05:48So, she said, I can't. I said, well, we can take a lot on the plane, and the rest we
00:05:52can ship, Emma. We can work it out. We can work it out. No, don't come. Then, yes, okay, maybe
00:06:00come. I need help.
00:06:02She wavered. You could tell that she wanted not to need help. So, I said that I would come, and
00:06:14that's where we left it on that phone call.
00:06:17And then there was another phone call.
00:06:23I hadn't left yet. My suitcases were packed.
00:06:28And it was, don't come. I'm figuring things out.
00:06:34I may need you to come later, but right now I've got things to figure out.
00:06:39So, I don't want you to come.
00:06:40I don't want you to come.
00:06:43So,
00:06:46my heart was just,
00:06:49it was just broken.
00:06:51I just,
00:06:54the pain I felt for Emma,
00:06:56for what she must have been going through,
00:06:58was,
00:06:59was almost insurmountable.
00:07:08By that time,
00:07:09I chose to talk to my other children,
00:07:11and to my husband,
00:07:13my ex-husband.
00:07:17And the opinion was unanimous.
00:07:20And the opinion was,
00:07:23if Emma's last words were,
00:07:24don't come,
00:07:25then you need to respect
00:07:27those wishes.
00:07:29You are too,
00:07:34forthright.
00:07:35You are too,
00:07:36determined.
00:07:38You are,
00:07:40hurting.
00:07:41You are hurting for Emma.
00:07:43Emma doesn't want you to come.
00:07:46You can't go.
00:07:47She probably won't even see you.
00:07:49She'll probably turn you away.
00:07:52In one of the phone calls,
00:07:53I suggested to Emma,
00:07:55that I come to Victoria,
00:07:58and I'm going to bring some books.
00:08:00And I said,
00:08:01you know how rough teaching is,
00:08:02and how tired I always am,
00:08:03and stressed,
00:08:04and exhausted.
00:08:05So I'm going to bring a couple of books,
00:08:07and I'm going to let you know,
00:08:09what hotel I'm in,
00:08:10and what my room number is.
00:08:12And if you decide that you want to see me,
00:08:15or you want my help,
00:08:16I will already be in Victoria.
00:08:19I thought that was a fabulous solution.
00:08:21Emma did not think that was a good solution,
00:08:23at all.
00:08:24She did not like that at all.
00:08:25She didn't want,
00:08:26she clearly didn't want me in the city,
00:08:28during this,
00:08:30at this point.
00:08:33So,
00:08:34cancel the flight,
00:08:36didn't unpack my suitcase.
00:08:40Something told me that there was going to be a point
00:08:43at which I would be going to Victoria.
00:08:47Knowing that either she was going to give me the okay,
00:08:51or I was just going to go.
00:08:54Because by then,
00:08:55I am frantic.
00:09:05And when that came up on my caller display,
00:09:08I thought Sandy Merriman was a friend.
00:09:11So the first time,
00:09:12I didn't think too much of it,
00:09:14and I thought,
00:09:15well,
00:09:15don't call her back.
00:09:16Let her,
00:09:17she's calling you.
00:09:18She's calling you.
00:09:18Don't,
00:09:19don't interfere with that.
00:09:20Don't,
00:09:20don't be pushy.
00:09:22She's called you.
00:09:24She's going to call you again.
00:09:25So don't call.
00:09:28But on the second time,
00:09:30that she called from there,
00:09:32I thought,
00:09:34I'm going to call.
00:09:36I'm going to take that chance.
00:09:38I'm going to take that risk.
00:09:40She may be angry with me.
00:09:42She'll be upset with me.
00:09:43But I'm going to do that.
00:09:44So I called back that number.
00:09:50And they answered,
00:09:51Sandy Merriman's shelter for women.
00:09:54And that's when I discovered
00:09:55she was staying at a shelter.
00:10:03They weren't allowed to divulge much.
00:10:08I asked if Emma was safe.
00:10:15And they said that Emma was safe.
00:10:21I said,
00:10:23do you think I should come to Victoria?
00:10:29And their response was something like,
00:10:32well,
00:10:33we can't really advise you.
00:10:40staying put and staying home was so difficult
00:10:44because all I wanted to do was go
00:10:47and hold her and help her.
00:10:52I talked to the kids and James again,
00:10:54and they said,
00:10:55you just can't go.
00:10:56You just can't go,
00:10:57Mom,
00:10:57and please,
00:10:58please don't go.
00:10:59And I deferred to them
00:11:01because I really felt
00:11:03that James
00:11:05and the other kids
00:11:07knew Emma
00:11:09better than I knew Emma.
00:11:17I knew about her need for privacy.
00:11:20I knew that secrecy
00:11:22had kind of snuck in
00:11:24and increased the privacy
00:11:26because of the emails
00:11:29and not phoning very often
00:11:30and that kind of thing.
00:11:33but I didn't feel
00:11:34that I really
00:11:36understood Emma
00:11:37as much as
00:11:39her siblings did
00:11:40and her dad
00:11:41because she was so close to her dad.
00:11:43So close.
00:11:45So I followed their advice.
00:11:47I followed their advice.
00:11:50I followed their advice.
00:11:52and I listened to her dad
00:12:09and said,
00:12:09and I know
00:12:10of her dad
00:12:10and I asked
00:12:10and I said
00:12:10because he was so close
00:12:13I was so close
00:12:14because I was so close
00:12:16that way
00:12:28Finally, on Wednesday morning, the 28th of November, at about 7 o'clock my time, so
00:12:424 o'clock Emma's time, the phone rings, and it's Emma, and she says the following, she
00:12:50says, don't come, not today, mum. She hung up the phone.
00:13:01That was it.
00:13:06I got on the first plane I could, my suitcase hadn't been unpacked, I flew up to Victoria.
00:13:12I got on the first plane, my suitcase hadn't been unpacked, I couldn't find the way
00:13:19I got on the first plane, I was able to getNerd and I was able to find the way
00:13:28to get the thing I was able to fly, and I saved the way, the other plane I was able
00:13:30to
00:13:30see, looking for a little bit of a child, a woman, I was able to fly, and I was able
00:13:31to
00:13:31see, looking for a little bit of a child, I don't know, but I didn't have a child.
00:13:37It's not that much money, I was able to see.
00:14:09You
00:14:10I arrived at the airport about 9 o'clock in that night, BC time.
00:14:19I got my luggage, grabbed a taxi.
00:14:28So I got there, and it was all very hush-hush, and you know, 11 o'clock, somebody ringing their
00:14:36bell and stuff, and I explained who I was.
00:14:39So they said, okay, and they let me in. The taxi left.
00:14:44The nighttime supervisor was there, and I said, so what do you think? Should I wake Emma up, or should
00:14:52I wait?
00:14:53And she said, Emma's not here. She didn't come for her bed.
00:15:04I didn't panic at all, because I thought, she's 26, it's 11 o'clock. It's not 3 o'clock in
00:15:11the morning.
00:15:12She's not 14. Of course she could be out.
00:15:20So she said, the supervisor said, let's go up to my office and talk.
00:15:27That set off all kinds of lights.
00:15:31I thought, why are we going upstairs to talk? Why are we going someplace really private to talk?
00:15:38That struck me as very odd.
00:15:43I didn't lose my composure. I was on edge. I didn't know why we were doing that.
00:15:51We went upstairs.
00:15:54She said, Emma hasn't been well.
00:15:59There are issues with Emma.
00:16:03I said, oh, okay.
00:16:07And then all those phone calls started playing in my head.
00:16:10And the tears, and the come and the don't come, and everything.
00:16:17And then, just like that, she said, I think we should call the police.
00:16:24Well, then I just, I didn't know exactly what was wrong with Emma, of course.
00:16:34But I knew that it had to be really, really serious for her to say, let's call the police.
00:16:43So she called the police, and two police officers came.
00:16:48And the three of them decided that she should be designated a missing person.
00:16:57So my perception was, well, why are they designating her a missing person?
00:17:04Because she missed her bed once.
00:17:08Why would you be alarmed?
00:17:10I mean, I was alarmed because I had the phone calls, but I couldn't understand why they were so alarmed.
00:17:18Alarmed enough to call the police and designate her a missing person.
00:17:22That was serious.
00:17:25And then I started thinking all kinds of horrible things.
00:17:31I didn't know what to do.
00:17:35One of the police officers said, the best thing you can do is get a hotel room, and we'll go
00:17:42looking for her on the streets.
00:17:47There was a hotel directly across from the shelter.
00:17:52So I said, I'll take my luggage over there, and I'll check in and get a room.
00:17:57I said, and then I'm going looking for my daughter.
00:17:59And they said, absolutely not.
00:18:02The streets of Victoria aren't safe.
00:18:04You shouldn't be wandering alone.
00:18:05The next thing you know, there's going to be a second missing person.
00:18:12We strongly advise you not to.
00:18:14If we see you on the street, we will probably request that you get in the car, and that we
00:18:20take you back to your hotel.
00:18:22We don't want to see you on the street.
00:18:30So, I foolishly, and that's in retrospect, I foolishly thought that there would be a significant effort on the part
00:18:42of the police to find this young woman who suddenly is designated a missing person.
00:18:48Things are so serious, things that I'm not aware of have escalated to the point that they decide.
00:18:56The supervisor and the police decide.
00:18:59I wasn't really part of the conversation.
00:19:00I was there, but I wasn't really part of the conversation, decided that she should be considered a missing person.
00:19:09So, I got a hotel room, a room that overlooked the street, so I could see the shelter from my
00:19:16room.
00:19:18I didn't undress.
00:19:19I got on the bed, propped up the pillows, and I sat at the window, and I watched the entrance
00:19:26to the Sandy Merriman shelter.
00:19:34One young woman went by, didn't go to the shelter, but she went by, and I leapt up.
00:19:39I just jumped up, and I thought, oh, that must be Emma.
00:19:43And I was about to run downstairs when I finally saw her closer, and she didn't go near the shelter,
00:19:49or she bypassed the shelter, and I realized it wasn't Emma.
00:19:51So, I sat up for the night, watching the shelter door.
00:20:01So, when Emma was reported missing, officers took steps immediately that night.
00:20:07They broadcast her description on air for all the areas, and we sent a message to all the MDTs, that's
00:20:12the mobile computers in the patrol cars themselves.
00:20:15So, officers that night knew who they were looking for.
00:20:21They did a lot of area checks, checking parks and other locations where people would hang out.
00:20:26They got a picture of Emma, which was added to our patrol briefing.
00:20:30So, the oncoming shift the next morning would have a picture of Emma, and they'd know who they were looking
00:20:34for.
00:20:39We checked with area hospitals, all up and down the islands, checked if they had dealt with Emma, or if
00:20:45they had any unknown females, or Jane Doe.
00:20:54Victoria police are looking for a missing woman tonight, and they're hoping you can help them find her.
00:20:58Her name is Emma Philipoff.
00:21:00She's 26 years old, and she was last seen in the 800 block of Burdett Avenue last night.
00:21:05Police say she frequents the downtown area, but she has no history of going missing.
00:21:08She was last seen wearing camouflage pants, and was carrying an orange purse.
00:21:14If you see Emma Philipoff, or you know her whereabouts, you're asked to contact police.
00:21:26The second day I went back to the shelter.
00:21:29She still wasn't there.
00:21:31I thought, I'm going to walk the streets, because I'm going to go around the corner and I'm going to
00:21:35run into Emma.
00:21:36I'm going to check coffee shops.
00:21:38I'm going to check down by the harbour.
00:21:41I'm going to check places that I think Emma might be.
00:21:48I went to the library, I think, even that first day.
00:21:56I went back to the shelter to talk to them and get some advice.
00:22:03Whoever I spoke to said, I suggest you start putting up posters.
00:22:12When you start putting up missing posters of your child, you start thinking, there's a lot more to this story.
00:22:24And something is so desperately wrong, that it's probably something you can't really fathom.
00:22:49Because she got to a stage where she was reticent to have her picture taken, I had very few adult
00:22:59pictures of Emma.
00:23:01And out there with me, I had none.
00:23:05So I said to them, I said, well, I don't have a single picture.
00:23:09They said, well, we have one picture.
00:23:13So that would have been the first time that she had gone to the shelter.
00:23:17It was the only picture I had.
00:23:22And then I discovered, much to my dismay, that in Victoria you can't just put posters up just anywhere.
00:23:30I didn't know that.
00:23:32So I was putting up Emma's poster on every poll.
00:23:36I went into restaurants, went into stores.
00:23:40So as I was putting up posters, the town bylaw officer, I guess, was systematically taking them all down.
00:23:51I continued to approach restaurants, stores, bars, pubs, you name it, I approached them.
00:24:00Some were very great about it and said, I will put it right in the door.
00:24:05And some places said staff bathroom or staff room.
00:24:14One of the places that wouldn't put up a poster of Emma anywhere but in the staff room or in
00:24:19the staff bathroom was the library.
00:24:22Where Emma frequented, Emma frequented the library daily, sometimes for hours.
00:24:34So then I guess my next step was to get in touch with friends of Emma's from home and asking
00:24:43for pictures.
00:24:45So at last I had some colour photos.
00:25:03I'm thinking by then a really kind young man called James stepped into my life and he had seen the
00:25:14poster.
00:25:15And on the poster, of course, was my email.
00:25:18So he emailed me and said, I don't know who you are, but I don't know why you think Emma's
00:25:27missing.
00:25:27But Emma's not missing. Emma can't be missing. She's not missing. You're mistaken.
00:25:34Like, aggressive almost. Like, what's wrong with you?
00:25:38So I responded and I said, Dear James, I'm Emma's mum.
00:25:44I spoke to Emma quite a few times before I came to Victoria and she had asked me to come
00:25:50out and then nod.
00:25:51And I explained the situation to him. I said, I really feel that something is seriously wrong and the police
00:26:01had designated her a missing person as well.
00:26:04So he said, Oh.
00:26:09When she first went missing, the way that I found out was a friend of mine takes her missing poster
00:26:17to my door, my apartment.
00:26:20And the first thing I thought was, oh no, it's just a jealous boyfriend.
00:26:25He just doesn't understand. She wants to live free and like, she doesn't want commitments and she just doesn't want
00:26:31to have a phone.
00:26:32She just wants to get away. That was my first really strong feeling of like, this is just a silly,
00:26:37jealous boyfriend.
00:26:39And then I found out that it was her mum. Then I was like, Oh, well, maybe simple. Maybe it
00:26:45is more serious, you know.
00:26:48But that was my initial duck feeling.
00:26:53I met him probably the next day. And I think he came to the hotel lobby. I think that's where
00:26:59we met.
00:27:02Not that much longer after, he invited his friend Sever Bronnie, who's a Canadian author, to join us.
00:27:11So James and Sever were best friends. I believe that James was the best man at Sever's wedding.
00:27:18Either he invited Sever or he told them about what was going on and Sever said, I maybe can help.
00:27:24Can I help?
00:27:26So Sever and I and James worked as a team.
00:27:32We started meeting at different coffee shops and we planned our strategies.
00:27:40I handed out posters for them to post her to hand out.
00:27:44We continued creating Emma's Facebook page.
00:27:48James and James and Sever saved my life out there because I'm not great with computers.
00:27:58I'm also geographically impaired.
00:28:00So I found that their knowledge of the city and their ability to create little maps for us to use
00:28:08to say,
00:28:09OK, you're going to go here and I'm going to go there was beyond helpful.
00:28:13Now, no one had a car. It wasn't safe because I would never have my eyes on the road.
00:28:20I'd have my eyes on the sidewalk looking for Emma.
00:28:22So I never rented a car. So everywhere we went, we went on foot.
00:28:28But that was advantageous because on your way to a location, of course, we looked, we searched, right?
00:28:38I went with two women who offered to drive me around to different locations.
00:28:46So I myself went to a number of the small islands around Victoria and a lot of them just had
00:28:54a general store,
00:28:56one restaurant, you know, that type of thing.
00:28:58And everybody was very friendly and helpful and caring and said, yes, we'll put up a poster and leave some
00:29:06posters
00:29:06and we'll hand them out to people that we know that, you know, move around a bit.
00:29:13That's how we spread the news on the islands.
00:29:20So as the investigation went on, we were speaking with Emma's mom, Shelly.
00:29:26She was running her own sort of parallel investigation and doing what she could to find her daughter.
00:29:30And she was sharing all the information she received at the time.
00:29:34So we were taking those leads and investigating those points as well.
00:29:38One of the things we found was Emma's van, which we went through and found some of her possessions
00:29:42and things like her journals, which we were able to read through trying to develop leads
00:29:47as to what was going on with Emma at the time and where she might have been.
00:29:53I discovered that Emma had a van that the police had confiscated
00:29:58and it appeared that all her belongings were in it.
00:30:06They said that they had to have the van first because right away I wanted to get into it
00:30:11and see what I could find and see if there were any clues.
00:30:15They said no, it needed to go through forensic testing and fingerprinting.
00:30:21And so it was a while before I had access to her van.
00:30:32Tips and information started to trickle into the Help Find Emma Philippoff Facebook page.
00:30:38And among the messages that I got, a number of them were of sightings of Emma on the day she
00:30:48went missing.
00:31:17Just a few weeks ago, we were visited, again.
00:31:40She got a notice saying that the van needed to be moved, so she went and she pleaded with
00:31:45them to please let her have another day, which they did, and actually I spoke to the manager
00:31:54or assistant manager at the Chateau Victoria, and she was very nice and she was very understanding
00:32:01and she gave me the feeling that she felt very bad that Emma had even received a notice
00:32:09that she had to move.
00:32:31So I thought I had a wedding, but she had a wedding.
00:32:32She went and said, she got a wedding.
00:32:33She was a wedding.
00:32:34She was a wedding.
00:32:37So I went and she was a wedding.
00:32:40And she went to see you at the wedding.
00:33:20I was very surprised that Emma made those what I considered unusual purchases at 7-11 for her because I
00:33:29did discover that she had money in her bank account so I couldn't begin to fathom why she would get
00:33:33a prepaid credit card.
00:36:54went missing. One was a man and his daughter working at the Neutka Center
00:37:07and they were somewhat aware of Emma because of her presence in Victoria so
00:37:12they kind of knew Emma and they had seen her and they had commented on the way
00:37:19she was walking, being barefoot and kind of shuffling. My daughter and I both saw
00:37:28Emma that morning come into the entrance facing the Empress Hotel and noticed her
00:37:33wander past us a couple of times going in and out of the building.
00:37:41I first saw her and she captured my attention like in the business that we
00:37:48do like painting windows. We see people come and go like all day long right so
00:37:53but she captured my attention because she seemed a little confused.
00:38:01I'm an artist and so I do window art so like Christmas window scenes and like
00:38:11the scenes that I do when I was doing the business was all like white landscape
00:38:16winter wonderland type of sceneries and it's like she she wasn't coming in to
00:38:25like the often people come in oh nice work oh that looks good what you guys are
00:38:28doing as an artist but it's like she was oblivious to the fact that we were even
00:38:38there but I just I just saw her and we're painting away my daughter and I and and I sort
00:38:47of didn't pay
00:38:48attention to anything until I started seeing her like coming back out and back
00:38:53forth and back out kind of thing a few times and I noticed her I'm going hmm what's there's
00:38:59something going on here is she okay right and she started like looking out out
00:39:07from the door and then went up into the court somewhere then like a couple of
00:39:14minutes later came back to the door and went outside again and it's like she was
00:39:19looking around and then came back in she was walking not with normal big steps or
00:39:26meeting she it's almost like she was walking with with small steps taken three
00:39:32four steps and then sort of stopping looking and then going back a little bit
00:39:39two three quick little steps and then stopping and then coming back and that sort of
00:39:44thing right it was just totally not normal it almost looked like she was I don't know
00:39:53what she was evading somebody or you know it's a mix of she seemed very confused
00:40:01disorientated and she didn't seem like she was scared she wasn't running but it's
00:40:09almost like she was looking for someone or something
00:40:18she seemed like she was lost you know lost in her mind I mean no not lost I don't
00:40:29know where I am but it seemed like she was lost should I go left or should I go
00:40:34right or so you go out and then you come back and that you know like like
00:40:40what's going on right
00:40:52and then she she's she seemed to have gone at the other end of the Nutka
00:40:59court going going going up towards Broughton Street I believe and and then I
00:41:05didn't see her again come back in and then we finished the job and then as we
00:41:10were leaving we we went down Broughton and then we saw her like standing inside
00:41:17of Broughton or Courtney and so we saw her standing there again
00:41:29and then I found out later when she went missing I go holy crap that's that's Emma
00:41:36that's the girl we saw right so I made my call and and and at the time I figured
00:41:42okay well there's cameras in that building I thought that well the police if
00:41:48they're investigating her being missing and they should be able to retrieve the
00:41:52camera footage from the Nootka court and I have no idea if they did
00:42:15one of the staff members from Redfish Bluefish Ori ran into Emma on the day she went missing
00:42:28he met her she was on the grassy median outside of a drop kind of a drop in
00:42:34center called our place and he wanted to talk to her of course and Emma said I
00:42:43can't talk I'm having a bad day and Ori said can I give you a hug and Emma retreated as
00:42:51if she was
00:42:51afraid of Ori and afraid of him giving her a hug and she said I've got to go and she
00:42:57skirted
00:42:58around him and she left and she was carrying a whole lot of bags with her
00:43:04this was totally uncharacteristic of Emma Emma got along with with him certainly and Emma didn't display a lot of
00:43:15affection like a lot of hugging or kissing somebody hello or goodbye but she was affectionate and she was
00:43:21and she would definitely had she been Emma had she been herself would have accepted a hug for
00:43:51she was at Rock Bay the day she went missing I had seen her many times at the drive-by
00:43:58cafe at the mustard seed we would go out to the streets and see her
00:44:01and serve dinner to anyone who was hungry downtown and she came to get a wrap so we knew it
00:44:07was her
00:44:11so Rock Bay is a downtown Victoria co-ed shelter it was a shelter that I discovered that Emma did
00:44:24not want to stay in because of the fact that it was co-ed but apparently she would go there
00:44:45I saw Emma the day she was reported missing about one o'clock on Pandora I was alerted to her
00:44:54state blankly shuffling down the street
00:45:00as soon as I saw her on the news I called the tips number
00:45:04yes she was shuffling vacant look in her eyes she had very clean hair almost like she just washed it
00:45:11she had white plastic grocery bags over her arms as well as the orange bag across her chest
00:45:19I will never forgive myself for not seeing if she needed help
00:45:45I remember taking the call and thinking wow you know I just spoke to her and she's gone
00:45:52so on the 28th November 28th Emma had called the towing company
00:45:58and wanted to have her van towed to Souk
00:46:04it never happened
00:46:08I don't know why I never found out why
00:46:10it was an expensive little venture it was going to be $202
00:46:15but Emma did have money Emma did have money in the account
00:46:21Emma Filipov had called to have her vehicle towed
00:46:26and for some reason it didn't work out
00:46:30I know this because I took the call from her
00:46:37sometime between 2 and 5 I think I took the call
00:46:43she wanted her van towed
00:46:48and I know it was somewhere on the west shore
00:46:51it may have been west coast storage but I'm not sure
00:46:55I remember it was a parking lot
00:46:59I just remember talking about it the next day that there was some reason the vehicle couldn't be towed
00:47:05I remember discussing payment with her
00:47:09and after giving her the price
00:47:11she still wanted it towed
00:47:15somebody went to tow it
00:47:17you know was dispatched to the call and everything
00:47:20and I believe that driver spoke with her
00:47:25and it was at that point either after they tried to tow it
00:47:30or they decided no it's not going to work
00:47:33you know I don't know what it was
00:47:40and I remember at the time thinking
00:47:43this young woman sounds very fragile
00:47:46like just very delicate
00:47:51very sweet
00:47:52you know like
00:47:53like not
00:47:55she didn't sound distressed or anything
00:47:58but just
00:48:00like I was concerned by how fragile she sounded
00:48:18the other one that stands out was the man that was driving
00:48:22and he saw Emma
00:48:24I believe he saw her twice on that day
00:48:28and one of the times she was attempting to cross the street
00:48:35I don't know who I should really be talking to you but I saw this girl twice on the day
00:48:40she went missing
00:48:41I went to Victoria Police Headquarters the morning that the story was in the Times columnist.
00:48:46They took my information, but nobody ever called me back.
00:48:50So here's the info.
00:48:52I saw her twice on the Wednesday late afternoon.
00:48:54I'd say it was between 4 and 6 p.m.
00:48:57It was starting to get dark.
00:48:59I do sponsorships and marketing for the Victoria Grizzlies, so I was down at the Bay Center.
00:49:05As I left out the main Douglas Street doors, she crossed my path,
00:49:10and I noticed her, mainly the big mane of hair she had coming out of her hood.
00:49:29About 45 minutes later, I've gotten in my car and headed up to Mayfair Mall.
00:49:39I'm at the corner of Douglas and Finlayson, and here's the same girl from earlier crossing the street in front
00:49:45of my car.
00:49:47I just thought of it as funny coincidence.
00:49:51She glanced at me as she was crossing, so I smiled.
00:49:55And what I received back was so sad.
00:50:00The type of smile you smile when you're holding back tears.
00:50:03My immediate reaction was that I felt I should park the car and ask her if she was okay.
00:50:08But then I figured that since I'm a 30-year-old man, that may come across as creepy, so I
00:50:13didn't.
00:50:14Now, ever since I saw her in the paper, I can't forgive myself for not following my gut instincts.
00:50:20Anyways, she was walking up Douglas.
00:50:23I don't think she went into the Mayfair Mall because she didn't cut through the parking lot.
00:50:27She kept going straight up Douglas.
00:50:29I went up the street, and I got gas at the Shell by Uptown.
00:50:34If the police find me on the Shell station video that day, they should be able to find her on
00:50:39cameras going up Douglas.
00:50:41I hope this helps.
00:50:42Don't hesitate to contact me day or night if you need anything.
00:50:47That one I remember.
00:50:56What are your thoughts on this one?
00:50:58What do you remember feeling at the time?
00:51:04I remember feeling really hopeful, really scared, really sad.
00:51:11Sad that he said that she looked like she was on the verge of tears.
00:51:15Sad to think that she had wandered all that way up from where she had been earlier.
00:51:24Here again, it says they contacted police.
00:51:26It seems like police received an insane amount of calls for Emma in one day.
00:51:32Yeah, go figure, eh?
00:51:33And, of course, they couldn't find her.
00:51:39My thought was, is this like a mental health?
00:51:42Or is she maybe on something so she doesn't feel the cold like that?
00:51:49What stood out was she was with an older man walking barefoot across the crosswalk at Bay and Quadra.
00:51:59She fit the exact same description, and I did not know about her until the news came on.
00:52:05And the only reason I remember her was she was barefoot in November.
00:52:11Also, the fact that she was young and pretty and walking with an older man with grey-white hair.
00:52:18This man was clearly leading Emma down the road towards fairways on Bay Street.
00:52:25I called Vic PD, but they were completely uninterested in what I'd seen.
00:52:30Like, I was just seeking attention.
00:52:37They didn't seem to give a crap.
00:52:39Like, just that, oh yeah, okay, yeah, alright, thanks.
00:52:45She asked a couple questions, like, what kind of jacket was he wearing?
00:52:49And what was the location, you know?
00:52:51But it was very brief.
00:52:53Okay, thank you, and goodbye.
00:52:55And I thought maybe they would reach out to me again after that.
00:52:58And I'm like, well, that was rather quick, but they never did.
00:53:05It was dark, I remember that.
00:53:07Like, not pitch black, but it was dark enough.
00:53:15So the first thing I did is that I looked at them.
00:53:17They were just, I didn't think anything of it.
00:53:20It was just a couple.
00:53:21Couldn't have cared less.
00:53:22Thought, okay.
00:53:24And then I looked, and I seen that she had bare feet.
00:53:27And I was like, whoa.
00:53:31And I was like, it's freezing cold out.
00:53:34Like, what the heck?
00:53:35So I got, I took a good look at both of them.
00:53:37Like, what is going on?
00:53:40I thought maybe, like, she needed a little bit of guidance, it looked like.
00:53:44Maybe she was, I wouldn't say completely, like,
00:53:47I don't want to say she was under the influence of anything,
00:53:50but she looked like she was a bit vulnerable.
00:53:54And the man seemed to kind of be steadying her as he,
00:53:58she was kind of like, they weren't walking hand in hand,
00:54:01but they were walking, like, close, like, really side by side.
00:54:04And he seemed to be kind of like, at one point when they're walking,
00:54:07like, just kind of steering her just slightly, like, oh yeah,
00:54:10like, kind of moving her and she would, and she was going.
00:54:12So, and the way he looked, like, I just looked at him
00:54:16and I looked at his jacket and I looked at him.
00:54:18He was an older fellow.
00:54:19He had, like, a darker blue, just kind of like a spring jacket.
00:54:27She was kind of looking up at him and chatting and kind of like,
00:54:31like, like she was, like, she knew this guy.
00:54:33Like, she was comfortable, like, she knew him.
00:54:36She was, like, you know, she didn't appear, like,
00:54:38all upset or anything like that.
00:54:40But, you know, like, a bit animated with him,
00:54:46kind of chit-chatty,
00:54:47standing there while we were waiting for the light.
00:54:49And then he was just kind of like,
00:54:53and then let's go.
00:54:57And the closest that I can say that he looked like
00:55:00was that guide off that movie,
00:55:04just the slim build, kind of white thinning hair,
00:55:08but his was, like, kind of like a bit scraggly, like, long.
00:55:11I'll pull up one that I thought
00:55:14came to mind when I seen him.
00:55:16Just his build, his body build,
00:55:17just kind of that casual, very casual.
00:55:21Like, almost like, you know,
00:55:23like how a professor would dress
00:55:25if he's going to university.
00:55:26He might have a bit of, you know, frazzled hair.
00:55:28But it's just that kind of casual attire
00:55:31that he had on that made me,
00:55:33I went, gosh, he reminds me.
00:55:35Who is that that reminds?
00:55:36I've seen that guy before.
00:55:37Where is he?
00:55:38And I was thinking about it and thinking,
00:55:40and I'm like, oh my gosh, that's Brewster.
00:55:41And so here, I'll just bring it up on my phone.
00:55:44I don't know if he can see that.
00:55:47Only with longer hair.
00:55:50Thinning, because it was white.
00:55:51So there's that.
00:55:52And then this one.
00:55:54Only with, like, stringier hair.
00:55:57Stringier, long, white hair.
00:56:01He just, in my opinion,
00:56:03he came across just as kind of this creepy older guy
00:56:06that had an interest in her.
00:56:08That's exactly what I thought.
00:56:11I could tell he was definitely
00:56:13in control of the situation.
00:56:15Like, he was completely coherent.
00:56:17He didn't look or appear
00:56:18like he was under the influence of anything,
00:56:20but interested in her.
00:56:37I think she said she had been staying with a friend
00:56:40and it didn't work out.
00:56:42And so she was checking into the shelter.
00:56:48She already had a bed.
00:56:50I think she was there the night before.
00:56:56That night, I came on about seven,
00:56:59or no, I came on at about 11,
00:57:01and Shelly arrived when I was on ship.
00:57:05And so when I came on,
00:57:06we often just discuss where everybody is,
00:57:10if so-and-so's home, so-and-so's out.
00:57:14You know, we go through the list
00:57:15of the women that were staying with us
00:57:16so that we know where they're at, you know.
00:57:18And Emma had been out.
00:57:20But then I was told
00:57:23that she was acting a little bizarre that night.
00:57:27Like, she tried to throw out a vacuum cleaner
00:57:30into the dumpster.
00:57:31And I guess one of the staff said,
00:57:33you know, what are you doing, Emma?
00:57:35You know, you don't need to throw that out.
00:57:37And she would just,
00:57:39she apparently just, you know,
00:57:41stopped doing that.
00:57:42And then she left not too long after that.
00:57:45It was bizarre.
00:57:47It was like, you know,
00:57:48behavior that we didn't normally see from her.
00:57:52And we were anticipating her mom
00:57:56to come to the shelter
00:57:58because she had phoned ahead
00:58:00and said she was coming.
00:58:01She was on the plane.
00:58:35She was on the plane.
00:58:49She was on the plane.
00:58:49She was on the plane.
00:58:50She was on the plane.
00:58:52She was on the plane.
00:58:53She was on the plane.
00:58:55She was on the plane.
00:58:56She was on the plane.
00:58:58She was on the plane.
00:58:58She was on the plane.
00:58:58She was on the plane.
00:58:59She was on the plane.
00:59:01She was on the plane.
00:59:04She was on the plane.
00:59:21She came in to my work, and so I was helping her with the self-forward transaction.
00:59:33I happened to notice that, you know, she's a little off.
00:59:38She wasn't wearing any shoes.
00:59:44Went through the transaction and tried to help her as much as I can.
01:00:10Because I had thought all along and felt that I actually knew that she had an aversion
01:00:15to cell phones, I couldn't understand why she would be purchasing one.
01:00:34Her hair is loose and wild.
01:00:38I had never seen her hair like that.
01:00:41She looked nervous.
01:00:44She looked distraught, distressed, scared.
01:00:48And again, I mean, this is just a short piece of footage, but I got a very, very bad feel
01:00:55from watching that footage.
01:01:26This is just a short piece of footage.
01:01:26I also remember that she had come in the day before.
01:01:32She came in asking about her cell phones.
01:01:37Before those two nights, I had never seen her at all.
01:01:43The first day that she came in inquiring about the cell phones.
01:01:47She seemed pretty normal for the most part.
01:01:53But the second night, she seemed a little bit frantic.
01:01:59She was looking around the store.
01:02:05She wasn't wearing any shoes.
01:02:07She just had socks on.
01:02:31I didn't really happen to notice that, you know, there's anything too significant.
01:02:35And by looking her in the eyes, she had issues looking at me directly.
01:02:43And by looking her in the eyes, she was looking at me directly.
01:03:40She was looking at me and I was looking for her face, and I was looking for her face.
01:03:41The new hat is the next day, and that's why she's sitting there in the eyes.
01:03:43I pwned, because I was worried, because I said, hey, that girl was in my car.
01:03:52Bob, the taxi driver who had given Emma a ride, literally around the block in Victoria,
01:04:00he got in touch with me once he knew, realized that the young woman he had given a ride to
01:04:07was in fact Emma, the woman who was missing.
01:04:10So he got in touch with me, and we met for a coffee, and we talked.
01:04:17He had a little bit of startling information.
01:04:20He said that she got in the taxi.
01:04:24I was actually parked illegally on the corner of Courtney and Douglas Street, 800 block of
01:04:35Douglas Street.
01:04:40She was standing really confused by the car, and then she got in.
01:04:46She walked over, and she basically told me she wanted to go to the airport.
01:04:52And I looked at the time, and it was kind of an odd time to be going to the airport,
01:04:56so
01:04:56I asked her where she was flying to, and she says, I don't know.
01:05:00She didn't have no luggage or anything.
01:05:02That's another thing that threw a flag at me.
01:05:05She just basically had her, I think it was whatever, she kept her wallet and that in.
01:05:12And I said, you know how much it costs to go to the airport?
01:05:14And she said, no, and I said it was around $60.
01:05:17And she said, oh, that's way too much.
01:05:19Which didn't make sense, because she had money in her bank account.
01:05:23She could easily afford to.
01:05:28So what she ended up doing was asking Bob to just drive around the block and come back and
01:05:35drop her at the exact same spot.
01:05:39Like, rather than just get out wherever they were, she wanted him to drive around and come
01:05:44back and drop her where he, exactly where he had picked her up, which was a little bit strange.
01:05:52So I took her right back to where I picked her up.
01:06:01I went about three blocks.
01:06:02It was only around the $7 taxi ride.
01:06:08He also said that she asked if she could just sit in the car for a little while, almost as
01:06:13if she was afraid to get out.
01:06:16I don't know what she was afraid of.
01:06:18There are a lot of things like that that make me wonder if she was afraid of a person.
01:06:24Just peering out at the 7-Eleven and coming back in and checking and then not wanting to
01:06:31get out of the taxi.
01:06:39And at one point, she was really upset by the sound coming out of the radio.
01:06:45And I don't remember if it was like a public radio station or if it was his dispatch radio,
01:06:51but she was stressed over the noise that was coming out of one of those radios, which was
01:07:00also a little bit odd.
01:07:06She, to me, she looked like totally confused and like she wasn't there, like she was high
01:07:14on something maybe.
01:07:16I'm not a doctor, so I can't tell, but it wasn't, it wasn't the same girl because I talked to
01:07:22her
01:07:22at the Redfish Bluefish a couple of times.
01:07:25During our conversation over coffee, Bob ended up telling me that he knew Emma from around
01:07:32the city and that he knew her from Redfish Bluefish, the seasonal restaurant where she
01:07:38worked, um, so he recognized her.
01:07:46I believe that his comment was, she didn't look like the same woman.
01:07:55That's where we, we noticed her because she was always feeding, uh, the seagulls, not the crows.
01:08:03And she always had a picnic bench all the time.
01:08:08When she was on a break, I guess, she would sit on a bench not too far from the restaurant
01:08:14and she would feed the birds and Bob remembered this.
01:08:19And it wasn't the first time that someone had told me that they had seen Emma feeding birds,
01:08:23not just in that location.
01:08:25She was just known, uh, for feeding birds.
01:08:37Today is Friday, July 15th, and Emma has a very special friend with her.
01:08:47Emma, if you come a little bit closer, stay there and I'll try to focus in to show that,
01:08:53just a minute, Matthew, that Emma has a pet squirrel.
01:08:58And the squirrel's decided that he likes living in Emma's shirt,
01:09:02sort of like a mini hammock for him.
01:09:05And he's in there having his breakfast.
01:09:10What's he having for breakfast, Emma?
01:09:12Peanuts and bread.
01:09:13And he didn't eat the lettuce.
01:09:16No, I don't think they're lettuce eaters.
01:09:17But he did.
01:09:19Oh, did he eat the lettuce yesterday?
01:09:21Yep.
01:09:22And there he is.
01:09:26Oh, he is so cute, Emma.
01:09:28Good morning, Emma.
01:09:29Good morning.
01:09:30Reading about these sightings, a scary picture began to form for me.
01:09:36I mean, I was becoming aware of things that were more than unnerving.
01:09:44But the descriptions that I got of Emma on that day were actually very scary.
01:09:53And the picture that it painted was a scary one, where I felt that she was very, very unwell,
01:10:02and that she definitely needed help.
01:10:12I called the 911 dispatcher, and they're like, fire, police, ambulance.
01:10:18And I told them, like, well, I'm not really sure if it's ambulance or police.
01:10:21I kind of, like, explained briefly, like, there's a girl I know, and she doesn't seem,
01:10:25like, completely herself.
01:10:26I know I knew her from once before, but something just seemed, like, off.
01:10:29And it's like someone to kind of go on and check with her, like, see if she's okay.
01:10:34And they're like, okay, like, well, like, did she ask for help?
01:10:37I'm like, well, no, but, like, she just seems sort of out of it.
01:10:40She's not wearing her shoes.
01:10:42And I said, like, yeah, we'll send, like, a police car over there to check her out sort of thing.
01:10:46I'm like, okay, sounds good.
01:10:54I remember finding out that the police had spoken to Emma that night.
01:11:01And I remember finding out that it was on record that they spoke with her from 7.23 until 8
01:11:08o'clock.
01:11:09And I was stunned.
01:11:14A woman looking disheveled, looking distraught, lost, bare feet, clutching her shoes, being interviewed by police.
01:11:27That is in direct opposition to the picture that the other story, the other narrative told.
01:11:59And again, she's loved as a boy, the other character, that the other character, the other spirit
01:12:00And it was all of a sudden over to give her rub to the happened, she was SB.
01:12:00mismatch and meme that with me called onto theebys, don't know, and it was lit, but not that he did
01:12:00for her
01:12:00to make her look at her work.
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