Candlelight vigil for Langley, B.C., mom and teacher missing for a week

LANGLEY, B.C. – Friendsand family of a missing Langley, B.C., woman are planning a candlelight vigil more than a week after her mysterious disappearance.

RCMP say Naomi Onotera was last seen Aug. 28 and that residents near her home are being asked to provide police with any video surveillance or dashcam footage from between 6 p.m. and 7 p.m. that evening.

Serious crime investigators took over the probe on Sept. 1 and issued a photo showing her wearing black stretchy pants and a black T-shirt at a store on the day she was last seen.

Onotera's friend Kylie Hannan says the 40-year-old woman apparently went for a walk at night and never returned home, but it would be out of character for her to leave alone so late and without her 18-month-old daughter.

She says the married woman and kindergarten teacher was looking forward to working as a librarian starting next week after being off on maternity leave.

Hannan says Onotera's mother reported her missing about 20 hours after she was apparently last seen and that the family is emotionally distraught but grateful for community members who joined a search and are attending a candlelight vigil.

"We just want to send out a message of love and light and hope," Hannan says of the gathering on Sunday night at a park near Onotera's home.

"Everybody right now is just praying for her safe return and we want to make sure that wherever she is that that love is felt and that hopefully we can bring her home."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 5, 2021.