A Brantford, Ont., mom disappeared 5 days ago after leaving work — an all-out campaign aims to find her

Family and friends hope to get people across southern Ontario to search for a Brantford mother who went missing on Friday after she left her job at a funeral home in Woodstock, as police continue to investigate.

Friends identified the woman as Eugenia (Jenny) Da Silva, 44, and have set up Facebook pages dedicated to finding her.

One group is organizing canvassing events on Thursday in Hamilton, St. Catharines, London, Haldimand-Norfolk, Brantford and Cambridge in the hopes of finding Da Silva or the vehicle she was driving.

Her cousin, Carla Cassone, said the community hopes to find her as quickly as possible.

“I am making people aware that she is still missing and asking people to follow the channels for communication should they find anything with the Brantford police and Crime Stoppers, and hopefully bring her home safe, no matter the reason, no matter why,” Cassone said. “We just want to bring her home safe.”

Brantford police said the woman was last seen in Woodstock on Friday, and at the time, she was wearing business attire: A navy blue blazer, navy blue skirt, a white shirt and black wedge-style shoes. She has long, curly brown hair and brown eyes.

Da Silva’s family and Brantford police seem to disagree about when she was last seen on the day she disappeared. Police say it was at 3 p.m. ET and the family says she was seen leaving at 5:10 p.m. CBC News has reached out to Brantford police to confirm or comment on the family’s timeline for Da Silva.

They said she may be driving a 2009 black Audi A6.

“The Brantford Police Service are concerned for Eugenia’s well-being and are seeking assistance from anyone who may have information which may assist in locating the missing person,” police said in a release.

Search-and-rescue efforts organized

Sheldon Arruda, a close friend of the family, has helped organize a volunteer group to take part in search-and-rescue efforts to help locate Da Silva.

He said they’ve set up 13 different search zones spanning from London to Hamilton to Waterloo region and they need help with mobile canvassing.

“It’s our hope that with all of these volunteers kind of pouring through these communities all the way from London into Hamilton, that we can locate Jenny’s car and hopefully kind of provide the police with some additional support.”

He said a close group of friends and colleagues started a Facebook group on Tuesday to help spread awareness about Da Silva’s disappearance. The group grew by 4,500 members in just 24 hours.

Arruda said a lot of support outside of the Facebook group has been pouring in.

“If you look at how many volunteers have formally volunteered to join us [on Thursday morning], we’re well over 100, approaching 150. We’ve also had a lot of people who said that they can’t join us tomorrow, and that’s completely OK. But, moving forward, whether it’s their daily commute, running errands — their eyes are open and they’re paying attention.”

‘Jenny is loved by us all’

Jeff Gerber is a partner and owner at Brock and Visser Funeral Homes where Da Silva works. He said Friday was a normal work day, Da Silva left work and “we have no further information after the fact of that.”

“This is a little bit perplexing in the sense that, we’ve never experienced this before with her,” Gerber told CBC News.

He said he wasn’t in the office on Friday and found out Da Silva was missing later Friday when police called him and his wife, Pam. He said he spoke to people who did see Da Silva that day and they told him “nothing was different. Nothing was out of the ordinary for Jenny.”

Cassone said her family misses her deeply.

“Jenny is loved by us all. She’s got a fun and bubbly personality, and she’s super kind. She’s constantly seeing the best out of people. She is a very loving mother. Her daughters adore her. She’s married with her husband, like she’s got a great foundation.”

Gerber said it has taken a toll on the workers at the funeral home.

“They’re all colleagues, they’re all family, so this has been very difficult for everyone,” he said.

“We truly feel for her two children, her two girls, her family. That’s the important part of it and we’re trying to assist wherever we can in whatever we’re asked to do. If we can do it, we’ll do it.”