A Brantford, Ont., mom disappeared 5 days ago after leaving work — an all-out campaign aims to find her
CBC
Family and friends hope to get people across southern Ontario to search for a Brantford mother who went missing on Friday after she left her job at a funeral home in Woodstock, as police continue to investigate.
Friends identified the woman as Eugenia (Jenny) Da Silva, 44, and have set up Facebook pages dedicated to finding her.
One group is organizing canvassing events on Thursday in Hamilton, St. Catharines, London, Haldimand-Norfolk, Brantford and Cambridge in the hopes of finding Da Silva or the vehicle she was driving.
Her cousin, Carla Cassone, said the community hopes to find her as quickly as possible.
"I am making people aware that she is still missing and asking people to follow the channels for communication should they find anything with the Brantford police and Crime Stoppers, and hopefully bring her home safe, no matter the reason, no matter why," Cassone said. "We just want to bring her home safe."
Brantford police said the woman was last seen in Woodstock at approximately 3 p.m. ET on Friday, and at the time, was wearing business attire: A navy blue blazer, navy blue skirt, a white shirt and black wedge-style shoes. She has long, curly brown hair and brown eyes.
They said she may be driving a 2009 black Audi A6.
"The Brantford Police Service are concerned for Eugenia's well-being and are seeking assistance from anyone who may have information which may assist in locating the missing person," police said in a release.
Sheldon Arruda, a close friend of the family, has helped organize a volunteer group to take part in search-and-rescue efforts to help locate Da Silva.
He said they've set up 13 different search zones spanning from London to Hamilton to Waterloo region and they need help with mobile canvassing.
"It's our hope that with all of these volunteers kind of pouring through these communities all the way from London into Hamilton, that we can locate Jenny's car and hopefully kind of provide the police with some additional support."
He said a close group of friends and colleagues started a Facebook group on Tuesday to help spread awareness about Da Silva's disappearance. The group grew by 4,500 members in just 24 hours.
Arruda said a lot of support outside of the Facebook group has been pouring in.
"If you look at how many volunteers have formally volunteered to join us [on Thursday morning], we're well over 100, approaching 150. We've also had a lot of people who said that they can't join us tomorrow, and that's completely OK. But, moving forward, whether it's their daily commute, running errands — their eyes are open and they're paying attention."