Homicide team now investigating Langley, B.C., teacher's disappearance
Homicide investigators have been called to help solve the disappearance of Langley, B.C., teacher Naomi Onotera, authorities revealed Wednesday.
The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team also confirmed that police have begun searching Onotera's home, which has been cordoned off since Monday.
"I would caution that the presence of officers, security and crime scene tape is not an indication of criminality of anyone living in the residence. They are there to secure the preservation of evidence," IHIT Sgt. David Lee said in a news release.
"IHIT would like to ask for patience as this investigation continues. The family has also asked for privacy."
IHIT said members are assisting the Langley RCMP Serious Crimes Unit, and that the investigation remains in its initial stages.
Forensics officers have been seen at the family home this week, and neighbours told CTV News there was a canine unit at the scene on Monday.
Authorities previously said they did not suspect foul play in Onotera's disappearance.
The 40-year-old works as a teacher-librarian at Surrey's Katzie Elementary and has a 20-month-old daughter. Colleagues said her absence left an air of sadness at the school after classes resumed this month.
Police vehicles are seen outside the Langley, B.C., home of missing teacher Naomi Onotera on Sept. 15, 2021.
Police said Onotera's husband last saw her leave home on Aug. 28, and that her mother reported her missing the next day.
The missing woman's sister, Kirsten Kerr, said her sudden disappearance has been devastating to her loved ones.
"We just want to see her safely returned. We all miss her very much," Kerr told CTV News last week.
Onotera's husband has not spoken publicly. A neighbour who has spoken to him since the disappearance told CTV News the husband was upset and crying.
With files from CTV News Vancouver's Michele Brunoro
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Cargo ship had engine maintenance in port before Baltimore bridge collapse, officials say
The cargo ship that lost power and crashed into a bridge in Baltimore underwent 'routine engine maintenance' in port beforehand, the U.S. Coast Guard said Wednesday.
A Nigerian woman reviewed some tomato puree online. Now she faces jail
A Nigerian woman who wrote an online review of a can of tomato puree is facing imprisonment after its manufacturer accused her of making a “malicious allegation” that damaged its business.
Far North police 'dispatch' polar bear stalking schoolyard
Police and local hunters in an Ontario Far North First Nation community have “dispatched” a polar that was showing abnormal behaviour and treating the area as a hunting ground.
Donald Trump assails judge and his daughter after gag order in N.Y. hush-money criminal case
Donald Trump lashed out Wednesday at the New York judge who put him under a gag order that bars him from commenting publicly about witnesses, prosecutors, court staff and jurors in his upcoming hush-money criminal trial.
Families shocked after Niagara Falls hotel cancels bookings made year in advance of solar eclipse
After having the foresight to book their Niagara Falls hotel rooms more than a year in advance, several families planning to take in the solar eclipse next month were shocked to find out their reservations had been cancelled.
B.C. rescuers face 'high likelihood' of failure to reunite orphaned orca with pod
The race to reunite an orphaned orca calf that’s stuck in a shallow lagoon with a neighbouring pod has entered its fifth day, and a marine scientist says the clock is ticking.
Video shows police interrupting auto theft in progress outside Toronto home
New video footage obtained by CP24 shows the attempted theft of a vehicle in a North York driveway earlier this month that was ultimately interrupted by police.
Majority of Canadians believe in life after death: Angus Reid survey
A new survey from the Angus Reid Institute has found that a majority of Canadians believe in some form of life after death, a proportion that has held steady for decades.
MyPillow, owned by U.S. election denier Mike Lindell, formally evicted from Minnesota warehouse
A court ordered the eviction Wednesday of MyPillow from a suburban Minneapolis warehouse that it formerly used.