The Edmonton Police Service’s homicide unit has taken over an investigation into a missing 23-year-old woman.
Nicole Frenchman was reported missing to police by family members on Aug. 10. When the EPS put out a media release seeking public assistance to locate the woman on Aug. 16, officers said there was no indication to suggest foul play at the time.
At the time, police also said Frenchman was last seen in downtown Edmonton on Friday, July 9.
In an update on Friday morning, police said investigators have since learned the last communication from Frenchman’s phone was early in the morning on July 10. She was last seen getting into a larger, possibly grey pickup truck with oversized tires and a lift kit in the Kingsway area north of the Royal Alexandra Hospital on the same day.
“Police have found no other evidence of life since then,” the EPS said.
Frenchman’s disappearance is now being treated as suspicious. The investigation transitioned to the homicide section on Aug. 27, Insp. Brent Dahlseide with the EPS major crimes branch said.
“Right now we don’t know the nature of the manner of death, whether it’s criminal or non-criminal. However, when we get to a point in our investigation on the missing person unit side where we feel that there may be something that has occurred to Nicole, they cannot then continue the investigation under the Missing Person Act,” Dahlseide said.
The inspector said police see about three to five files that transition to the homicide section, similar to this one, each year.
The 23-year-old is described as five feet four inches, about 130 pounds, with long black hair and brown eyes. She has several noticeable tattoos, including one on her upper right chest of a woman wearing a crown. Frenchman has a dreamcatcher tattooed on her right forearm and a flower and dollar sign on her right hand, according to police.
Anyone with information on Frenchman’s disappearance is asked to contact the EPS at 780-423-4567 or #377 from a mobile phone. Anonymous information can be submitted to Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or online.
“We have had some tips come in from our initial media release,” Dahlseide said. “Those have been followed up, unfortunately, with negative results to this point.
“The key piece right now as we continue with the investigation is that we’re really seeking to generate more tips in the hopes that someone will come forward with that crucial piece of information that may help us locate Nicole.”