OPP are renewing calls for assistance in the investigation of the homicide of an Indigenous woman that occurred nearly two decades ago in Cobourg, Ont.
Police say a person was walking along the train tracks east of Ontario Street on Nov. 12, 2007, when they came across a deceased woman. The woman was identified as 28-year-old Rachel Russell.
The cause of death was blunt force trauma, the post-mortem determined. Police say they believe Russell was murdered in late October and her body went undiscovered until November. She was last seen Oct. 25, 2007.
“Even though it’s been almost 20 years since she is gone, I still cry every time I think about her,” Cindy Russell, Rachel’s sister, said in a video released by OPP this month. “We’ve never stopped talking about Rachel. She’s never far from our thoughts. She’s always there. But I’m still shocked that all this time later, we still don’t know what happened.”
Russell is one of 65 people included in the Missing and Unsolved Murdered Indigenous People (MUMIP) Report, published by the OPP in early May. The MUMIP report supports the recommendations from the national inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.
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“Most of us have experienced loss in some way, but Rachel’s family lost their loved one to a very violent act,” OPP Det. Insp. Brian McDermott said in a media release. “A tip doesn’t have to be earth-shattering or something you think will solve the case on its own. You could have an important piece of the puzzle. Please come forward and help us find answers for Rachel’s family.”
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A $50,000 reward is in place for any information that leads to an arrest and conviction.
Shelley Russell said her sister will be remembered as “a chameleon.”
“She had many friends. She was very bubbly. She really was the life of the party,” she said.
The investigation remains ongoing. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Northumberland OPP crime unit.
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