Chelsea Poorman's family urges people to stop tearing down posters requesting information

Chelsea Poorman’s family, along with their allies and supporters, are pleading with Shaughnessy residents to stop tearing down posters asking people to come forward with information about what happened to the young Indigenous woman found dead on the grounds of a mansion in the neighbourhood.

Poorman went missing in late 2020 and her remains were not found until April of this year.

Vancouver police say they believe she died the day she disappeared, or sometime shortly after, and her remains had been exposed to the elements for 20 months.

Investigators have said there is insufficient evidence to call her death suspicious -- but her family is still desperate for answers, and believes the posters could prompt somebody to provide new information in the case.

“I’m hoping and praying that the individual that was with Chelsea that night will come forward and give us the answers that we need to have closure to this,” said her mother Sheila Poorman.

On Saturday, family members and supporters held a rally in front of the home where Poorman’s remains were located before marching downtown.

They also put up a number of posters on utility polls along Granville Street during their march.

“It’s Important to get awareness and put her face where people can see it and be reminded that this happened in their neighbourhood,” said Saz Lambert, who attended the rally and march.

Upon returning to Shaughnessy to collect their vehicles, marchers found people removing the posters they had just put up.

One video posted to social media shows a man walking up to a poster and yanking it down before continuing down the street.

Another shows a man and a woman walking along Granville while the woman holds what appear to be a handful of crumpled Poorman posters.

“This ruins the poles,” the woman can be heard saying.

The people removing the posters have not broken any laws, but outrage about their actions is brewing online.

CTV News has learned the man seen tearing down a poster is West Side realtor Randy Vogel, who worked out of the Macdonald Realty office in Kerrisdale.

The company confirms it has parted ways with Vogel over his actions on Saturday.

"As an organization, we are in full support of Chelsea Poorman’s family and friends, as they search for answers and justice," MacDonald Realty said in a statement. 

"We do not condone any inappropriate actions taken by any member of our community, and, in this instance, we took immediate action and they are no longer with our organization."

Poorman supporters have since returned to the neighbourhood and replaced the posters that were torn down – something her mother says she is grateful for.

“We may have found her, but we don’t know what happened to her and that’s the hard part,” the grieving woman told CTV News.