Where is Emma Fillipoff
One: The Grieving Mothers of Perth Ontario
On November 23, 2012,
Shelley Fillipoff heard her phone ring around midnight. Immediately, she got
the feeling that something was very wrong with one of her children. It was
Emma, her 26-year-old daughter calling from Victoria, British Columbia. Emma
was in tears and highly distressed.One: The Grieving Mothers of Perth Ontario
“Mom, I want to come home,”
she said. She wanted Shelley to fly out and get her.
“Of course,” Shelley said.
She promised to book her flight as soon as they got off the phone.
“Are you booking your flight?” Emma
asked. She seemed incredibly concerned. Once again, Shelley promised that she
would as soon as she hung up.
“Right away, honey,” she promised. They hung up, and without wasting any time, Shelley booked her flight and packed to go get her daughter. Within a few hours, Emma called back.
“No, Mom, don’t come,” she said. “Not today.” She told Shelley that she wanted to figure things out for herself. Respecting her daughter’s request for privacy, Shelley cancelled her flight. This went on for four more days. An anguished Emma calling, begging her mom to come get her. Shelley booking her flight, packing her suitcase. And then Emma calls back, her mind changed. “No, Mom, don’t come. Not today.”
"Don't come. Not today, Mom, not
today." These were the last words Shelley would ever hear her daughter
speak. Emma called early on the morning of Wednesday, November 28.
At this point, Shelley could no longer ignore her instinct that something was
terribly amiss. Her ex-husband and children urged her to heed Emma’s
vacillating wishes, but Shelley got on a plane and flew across the country to
bring her daughter home. She was still in the plane at 8 P.M. the last time
Emma was seen. Shelley arrived at 11. By then, Emma had already vanished into the
night. No one has any idea where she went.
“The days are unbearably long and yet it’s almost been three years.” Unbearably long, unimaginably horrible. This is how Shelley Fillipoff describes her life.
I met Shelley this July in her family home just outside of Lanark, a tiny
village about ten kilometres from my hometown of Perth Ontario. Although Perth
has been voted, “the prettiest town in Ontario,” I’ve always felt haunted by
the community’s disturbing amount of tragedy. As I grew up, there seemed to be
a disproportionate amount of pre-mature death and disturbing events. Fires,
drugs, a double-murder suicide, a vice grip attack in a restaurant broom
closet, a child pornography arrest, inordinate levels of cancer and countless
young people who die suddenly of illness, accidents or suicide. Perhaps it’s
just my morbid fixation on death, or maybe it’s because the community is so
small. But whatever the reason, Perth has its share of grieving mothers.
The day Emma disappeared, Shelley became one of them.
End of Part One
-Written by Erica J. Schmidt
Where is Emma Fillipoff
Where is Emma Fillipoff
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| HAVE YOU SEEN EMMA? Please Share Your Stories and Tips Help Find Emma Fillipoff Facebook Group Email Erica: ericaschmidt85(at)gmail(dot)com (contact form below) Email Shelley: fillipoff(at)hotmail(dot)com Call the police. Exuberant Bodhisattva on Facebook Erica on Twitter: @mypelvicfloor |
Thank you so much for conducting this interview and publishing it. This is such a puzzling story and my heart goes out to their entire family.
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