Nirla Sharma’s body was found on the bank of the Fraser River in Burnaby Sunday afternoon, in an area just west of the Queensborough Bridge. Police said Monday there is no evidence of foul play, but that her cause of death has not yet been determined.
NEW WESTMINSTER –Fijian-Canadian woman’s body was recovered from the shore of the Fraser River by Burnaby RCMP two months after she went missing.
Nirla Sharma’s body was found on the bank of the Fraser River in Burnaby Sunday afternoon, in an area just west of the Queensborough Bridge.
Police said Monday there is no evidence of foul play, but that her cause of death has not yet been determined.
“This is a tragic conclusion in the search for Mrs. Sharma,” said Sgt. Jeff Scott of the New Westminster Police Department.
The 44-year-old was last seen at her home in New Westminster on Feb. 23.
Sharma was a mother of two, and her disappearance was completely out of character for her, police said at the time even though she was considered what they described as “high risk.”
The New Westminster Police Department (NWPD) said Nirla Sharma was last seen at her residence at 9 p.m. on February 23 and she vanished after some uncharacteristic behaviour.
Sharma worked an early morning shift at BC Hydro and usually arrives at work around 6:30 a.m. in Vancouver but she did not show up for work that morning.
She left without telling anyone and did not take any of her personal belongings. Her keys, wallet, and cellphone were all left behind at the family’s Lawrence Street home in the Queensborough area that she shares with her spouse and two adult children.
The family checked for Nirla at her gym and became alarmed when there was still no sign of her. They then reported her missing to the New Westminster Police Department.
Search and rescue crews were called to help look for her during the week she’d disappeared, and officers released a surveillance video clip during their investigation.
The video showed the missing woman walking alone in the Queensborough Landing area at about 3:30 a.m. the day she disappeared. Police said she was following a route she used to take her dog.
