Vancouver's ninth homicide victim of the year has been identified as 37-year-old Melanie Alexis O'Neill, a popular chemistry professor at Simon Fraser University.

O'Neill's body was discovered in her triplex in the 100-block of West 13th Avenue on Tuesday night, shortly after police received a call from someone worried about her well-being.

Police are treating her death as suspicious and say autopsy results are needed to confirm the cause of her death. She had no criminal record.

A man described only as an associate of the victim was detained the night of her death by the Richmond RCMP but has since been released without charges. He is still described as a person of interest in the case.

O'Neill was working at SFU as an associate professor of biophysical and biological chemistry, with a specialty in ultrafast dynamics.

She graduated with a Ph.D. at Dalhousie University at 2001 before doing her postdoctoral fellowship at the California Institute of Technology from 2001 to 2004.

Jon Driver, acting president of academics at SFU, describes the Nova Scotia native as an up-and-coming professor who just received tenure at the university.

"This is a huge shock for her colleagues and her students and they're taking time to grieve her, mourn her," Driver said.

The university is offering counseling services to staff and students. Driver said there will be a memorial for the slain teacher, but said it's too early to know when.

She had worked for SFU for six years.

"People are very sad and very shocked. I think people will take another month to mourn her and find out how to move forward," he said.

Anyone who witnessed anything suspicious near O'Neill's home in the last week is asked to call the Vancouver Police Homicide Unit at 604-717-2500 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.

O'Neill's death marks the second homicide in a 24-hour period in Vancouver. On Monday night, 21-year-old Harpreet Singh Sandhu was shot to death in the middle of the road in a quiet Vancouver neighbourhood.

Sandhu, a south Vancouver resident, had no criminal record. Police say the two deaths are not connected.

There were six murders in Vancouver in 2010.