Frustrated police, parents renew plea to help find missing 21-year-old woman

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This article was published 27/09/2016 (2767 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Surrounded by police on Wednesday, Christine Wood’s parents, Melinda and George Wood, made another direct plea to their missing daughter or anyone who has seen her.

“Christine, we want you to know that we love you, we miss you and we are worried about you,” Melinda said at the press conference. “Please text me and let us know you are OK. This is not easy as a parent, not knowing where she is.”

Winnipeg police Insp. Kelly Dennison said investigators have not been able to confirm any of several reported sightings of the 21-year-old since she went missing Aug. 19. Officers have pursued other tips and followed up with “people of interest,” he said.

“Each and every one of those have been followed up by the missing persons unit. Every one of them,” he said, referring to reported sightings that include the Osborne Village area, downtown near Portage Place, east of Polo Park in St. James, the King’s Hotel on Higgins Avenue, an apartment block at Selkirk Avenue and Powers Street and a Tim Hortons coffee shop on Isabel Street.

“We’re still here today asking for assistance. We do not know for sure that it was her in those sightings.”

The only new information offered Wednesday is the addition of a chipped upper left lateral incisor tooth to her police-issued description of a 5-foot-6 aboriginal woman with an average build and shoulder-length hair. She was last seen wearing a green top with a red-striped Adidas jacket over it, denim shorts and was carrying a white purse.

Her parents have described her hair as dark brown, but she has dyed red hair in two photos that have been released by police.

In a press release, police said “Christine is facing some personal challenges in her life causing on-going concern for her well-being,” but Dennison said that statement suggested only the possibility that she could be associating with people involved in a high-risk lifestyle or the drug trade.

“Please let me be very clear that we are not suggesting that Christine is leading that lifestyle,” he said. “What we’re suggesting is some of the individuals that she’s associated with or may know her whereabouts are the ones leading this lifestyle.

“By that we’re talking about individuals that may have knowledge of the drug trade here in Winnipeg or spend more time on the streets.”

The Wood family is from the remote, fly-in community of Oxford House First Nation, about 600 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg. Christine and her parents were staying at a hotel near Sargent Avenue and Berry Street while accompanying a family member to a medical appointment in the city. The former University of Winnipeg student told them she was going out for the evening and didn’t return.

Her parents told media shortly after her disappearance that it is extremely unusual for her to be out of contact with them for so long.

ashley.prest@freepress.mb.ca