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Abbotsford Police continue search for missing woman Marie Stuart

Last seen on Tuesday, Dec. 28 outside of Sevenoaks Shopping Centre
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Marie Stuart of Abbotsford has been missing since Tuesday

The search continues today for missing pregnant woman Marie Stuart of Abbotsford.

Const. Ian MacDonald said Abbotsford Police officers will continue to search the area around Sevenoaks Shopping Centre, where Stuart was last seen on Tuesday at about 3 p.m.

The search will include Mill Lake Park, Horn Creek Park and local neighbourhoods. MacDonald said search-and-rescue teams, who aided in the search on Wednesday, could be called back in.

Stuart, 38, had been playing the smartphone game Pokemon Go with her husband, Leslie Scott Schellenberg, on Tuesday, when they missed their regular bus to head back home.

They took a different bus, which arrived in front of Sevenoaks Shopping Centre – not far from their home – but went in separate directions when they got off the bus.

Schellenberg was unable to find Stuart, who is five months’ pregnant, and, when she didn’t return to their residence, he called police.

MacDonald said investigators corroborated Schellenberg’s story, including reviewing security video that showed him and his wife going in separate directions after leaving the bus.

MacDonald said police have received several tips since releasing information on Wednesday about Stuart’s disappearance.

He said reports have come in that someone resembling Stuart has been seen in Mission, Langley and near the Cole Road rest stop in Abbotsford, but none have panned out.

MacDonald said one of the problems is that people are making these calls some time after the supposed sighting, but when police arrive at the locations, no one resembling Stuart is there.

He said anyone who spots someone they believe is Stuart should call 911 right away.

MacDonald said Stuart’s immediate family members, including her parents, have not heard from her, but police are hopeful that she is staying with a friend.

He cited a case from earlier this year in which a woman had been missing for weeks, but was eventually found to be staying with some friends. The woman had instructed the friends to not contact her family.

Stuart is not active on social and does not watch television, and might not be aware that so much attention has been focused on her disappearance, MacDonald said.

He said Stuart has a wide circle of friends, many of whom she knows from church.

“With every hour that goes by, our concern goes up. I’m hopeful she has found a spot … indoors and that she’s safe,” MacDonald said.

On Wednesday, Schellenberg urged anyone who knows of his wife’s whereabouts to contact police.

“She’s been pretty moody … She’s kind of in a bit of a state, and I’m worried that she might wander aimlessly,” he said.

Stuart is 5’ 2” with black hair and glasses. She was last seen wearing a yellow toque and black jacket.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Abbotsford Police Department at 604-859-5225, text abbypd (222973) or call 911 for an immediate sighting of Stuart.



Vikki Hopes

About the Author: Vikki Hopes

I have been a journalist for almost 40 years, and have been at the Abbotsford News since 1991.
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