Mother of missing woman marks 5 years since disappearance in Victoria, B.C.

The mother of a young womanmissing for five years is marking the anniversary by returning to the B.C. city where she vanished from.

On Nov. 28, 2012, Emma Fillipoff, then 26, was last seen near the Empress Hotel in Victoria around 7:30 at night.

I can't rely on my instincts anymore. I can't rely on my heart because my heart wants her to be alive so desperately.- Shelley Fillipoff, mother of Emma Fillipoff.

"When she disappeared, she literally vanished," said Shelley Fillipoffwho lives in Perth, Ont."She didn't leave a trail of any sort. So there was nothing."

She returned toVictoria this week tomeet with police to review, one more time, the file which has grown to 1,300 pages of tips and leads and to host a candlelight walk on Tuesday, Nov. 28 to mark the anniversary.

Other similar walks will be held at the same time byvolunteersin Campbell River B.C., Perth and Halifax all the places where Fillipoff either grew up or spent time.

"I get a lot of tips ... but none of them amount to anything," said her mother who refuses to give up searching for her daughter.

She has no inkling what happened to Emma.

"To say that I have a gut feeling as to what happened to her ... I don't. I can't rely on my instincts anymore. I can't rely on my heart because my heart wants her to be alive so desperately."

Other problems

Since her disappearance Emma's Fillipoff's story has gained widespread mediaattention, including astory by the CBC's The Fifth Estate in 2014.

It explored whether Fillipoffwas killed, committed suicide or just didn't want to be found.

Shelley Fillipoff has not only endured uncertainty over the fate of her daughter, she was also jailed five days after she wascharged in 2016 with money laundering, drug and weapons offences.

The charges were laid after a months-long police investigation into her son, real-estate agent Matthew Fillipoff, who the Ontario Provincial Police allege was supplying cocaine to street-level traffickers in Lanark County in southeastern Ontario.

The charges against Shelley Fillipoffwere dropped a year ago.

• Charges withdrawn against Ottawa-area woman whose daughter disappeared in 2012

"It was horrendous," she said about the ordeal. "It was not something I needed."

'Live through hope'

Shelley Fillipoffsays mental illnessruns in the family and her daughterspent time in a women'sshelter in Victoria before she went missing.

But every time she despairs she forces herself to hope Emma will be found.

"When I do have a feeling, 'oh my God maybe something horrible has happened,' then I try to bring hope into it and think, 'well there's just as much chance that she's alive somewhere as she's not.' So I try to live through that hope."

With files from Yvette Brend.