On the evening of November 28, 2012, two Victoria police officers spoke with Emma Fillipoff outside the Empress Hotel. By the time her mother reached the city that night, the officers’ encounter was already over.
Shelley Fillipoff had come to take her daughter home. Instead, she had to piece together what Emma had done that day from people who had seen her and from the few places where a camera or a receipt had caught her movements.
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Disappearances — Real Cases Where People Vanished Without a Trace
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A daughter’s calls home
Emma was 26. She had moved west from Perth, Ontario, and worked at a waterfront fish restaurant in Victoria. By November she was staying at Sandy Merriman House. Her mother still lived in Ontario. Phone calls connected the two places, but what Shelley heard on the line told her little about where to go to help.
In the family’s account, Emma asked about returning to Ontario, then changed her mind about having her mother come. In the early hours of November 28 she called again. Shelley took a flight to Victoria that afternoon. The two never met there.
The final day in Victoria
Some of the images most often associated with Emma come from a different day. Security footage at the YMCA showed her entering and leaving the building on November 20, eight days before she disappeared. Watching those images afterward could tell the family where she had stood. It could tell them very little about what she had been thinking.
On November 28, the family timeline follows Emma through two purchases, a prepaid phone and a prepaid credit card. Neither purchase establishes what she planned to do next. Witnesses also reported seeing her at different places downtown. Those recollections vary in the detail they offer and in how much anyone was able to verify.
In the evening, someone who knew Emma became concerned when he saw her near the Empress. Police found her there barefoot. The family timeline places the start of the encounter at about 7:17 p.m. Victoria Police put it more broadly at about seven and say she was safe when officers checked her. No public account follows her continuously from the hotel to another destination.
Timeline of Emma Fillipoff’s disappearance
- November 20, 2012. A camera records Emma at the YMCA.
- November 28, early morning. Emma and Shelley speak by phone. Shelley decides to travel.
- November 28, daytime. The family’s reconstruction places Emma at shops in Victoria.
- November 28, evening. Officers speak with Emma by the Empress Hotel on Government Street.
- Later that night. Shelley reaches the shelter and learns Emma is gone.
The van in the parking lot
One thing the family could find was Emma’s red Mazda van. It was parked at a nearby hotel. Inside were her passport, laptop, camera, journals and borrowed library books. Someone searching for a missing traveler might reasonably begin with a vehicle or a passport. In this case both were still in Victoria, together.
The belongings place part of Emma’s life at the hotel. They do not establish that she returned there after the police encounter. The same distinction applies to subsequent sightings. A person who resembled her could give the search a direction. Confirming that it was Emma would require something more.
A mother’s search
Shelley shared photographs, appealed to witnesses and helped build a public chronology. That work brought people forward who had seen Emma before the police check and others who thought they had seen her afterward. The chronology identifies which accounts remain unconfirmed.
In 2014 a man took a missing-person poster into a shop in Vancouver’s Gastown neighborhood. The family publicized the encounter, hoping to identify him and learn the basis for what he said about Emma. His remarks did not establish that he knew her whereabouts. The appeal is a request for information about a lead, not an accusation.
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Where the record ends
Victoria Police’s anniversary appeal in November 2025 placed the investigation with its Historical Case Review Unit. Thirteen years on, the official account still ended outside the Empress. For Shelley, the journey that began with a phone call had become a search stretching across years.
Frequently asked questions
Who is Emma Fillipoff?
She was a 26-year-old woman from Ontario living in Victoria, British Columbia, when she disappeared in 2012.
Was Emma ever found?
She remains missing. Police identify the Empress Hotel encounter as her last confirmed sighting.
When did her mother arrive?
Shelley traveled on November 28 and reached the shelter that night, after the officers had seen Emma.
What did police say about her condition?
Victoria Police said Emma was safe when officers checked on her. The public evidence does not establish a diagnosis or an explanation for her disappearance.
What was left behind?
Police say her van contained her passport, journals, camera and other belongings.
Research Sources
The following resources were consulted to verify and update this article.
- Victoria Police, thirteenth-anniversary appeal — The family campaign reproduces the police statement on the last confirmed sighting, the van and the unit assigned to the case.
- Help Find Emma Fillipoff, family timeline — Distinguishes recorded purchases, the family’s phone calls, witness recollections and sightings awaiting confirmation.
- Help Find Emma Fillipoff, 2016 family appeal — Records Shelley Fillipoff’s recollection of traveling to Victoria and the family’s search for witnesses.
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