Disappearance of Emma Fillipoff from Victoria still a mystery 3 years later

Police are trying to draw attention to the case of EmmaFillipoff,a Victoria womanwho went missing three years ago,with thehopeof jogging the memory of someone who may have seen her.

Fillipoff's family has not given up hope, but there's been no sign of the 29-year-old woman since she was last seen in B.C.'s capital.

"Emma has literally vanished from the face of the earth," said her mother, Shelley Fillipoff.

"I like to believe she's out there. I like to believe that she's alive."

Emma Fillipoff was last seen acting strangely in front of the Empress Hotel in downtown Victoria in November 2012.

Officers spoke with her at length, but after ensuring she was all right, they allowed her to continue on her way, police said. From there she disappeared.

ShelleyFillipoff spent months scouring the streets of Victoria and Vancouver for any sign of her daughter, but she has now returned home to Ontario.

"I like to believe that she's alive and that it's going to take just one person to be in the right place and the right time, and we'll locate her and get her home," she said.

The CBC's investigative program The Fifth Estate also featured the case last year.

To help keep the search going, Fillipoff has also purchased space on billboards along Vancouver Island highways. She's still hoping someone will see her daughter's photo and call in the right tip.

There have been hundreds of tips over the yearsand detectives are still assigned to the case, said Victoria Police.