Family asks for public’s help on 10th anniversary of Portage woman’s disappearance
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 17/10/2018 (2016 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
It’s been 10 years since Portage la Prairie resident Amber McFarland disappeared.
The 24-year-old woman, who dreamed of becoming an interior designer and loved fashion and spending time with her close-knit family, was last seen Oct. 17, 2008.
She was out for the evening with friends, and RCMP traced her movements to a Portage nightclub. Security footage showed McFarland with two men, who were identified by police as an ex-boyfriend and an acquaintance.
On Oct. 19, her mother got a call saying McFarland had not shown up for her shift at a local Mark’s Work Wearhouse for the second day in a row. That’s when her parents learned she was missing.
In 2009, RCMP confirmed the case was being investigated as a homicide.
In an RCMP news release, her family said they will mark the 10th anniversary of her disappearance with a vigil in Portage Thursday night.
“We are gathering to honour and to remember Amber,” her mother, Lori McFarland, said in the RCMP statement. “We are going to share the love for the person she was.”
McFarland was well-known in Portage.
“She was vibrant, charismatic, kind and helpful to so many people,” her mother said. “To this day, people come and tell me stories about Amber that I didn’t even know. She affected so many people.
“Amber was a great person at 24. I would have loved to have seen her at 34, what she’d be, what she’d be doing, who she would have become.”
RCMP marked the anniversary by issuing a media statement reviewing the main facts of the case, and asking anyone with information to come forward.
“Working historical homicides has its own set of challenges,” said Sgt. Darrell Catellier, head of the RCMP historical case unit. “First and foremost is… knowing that the families have been waiting a very long time to find out what happened to their loved one.
“Amber’s family misses their daughter, sister, aunt. We want to be able to provide some closure to them,” he said. “Every piece of information is valuable. Please get in touch with us.
“Do it for Amber, for her family, for the community of Portage.”
alexandra.paul@freepress.mb.ca
