Missing Indigenous teenage girl from Port Coquitlam found dead in Vancouver

Almost a year after a 14-year-old Indigenous girl was reported missing, police confirm she’s been found dead.

Coquitlam RCMP say the search for Noelle O’Soup has come to a “tragic end.”

The teenager was reported missing May 12 2021.

Vancouver Police Sgt. Steve Addison confirms O’Soup’s remains were found on May 1st 2022 in an apartment building in the Downtown Eastside.

Her family was informed Wednesday, June 6.

Vancouver Police are now leading the investigation around O’Soup’s death.

The circumstances surrounding her death are not clear with foul play not ruled out at this point.

The BC Coroners Service is investigating a cause of death.

Sgt. Addison says as the investigation is ongoing, police are only able to provide limited information.

“Noelle’s death will generate many questions in the community, and we are committed to finding answers,” Addison says. “If, during the course of this investigation, we determine there is a risk to public safety, we will immediately notify the public.”

Related Articles: 

• Chelsea Poorman’s death an ongoing investigation: VPD

• ‘The case is not closed’: Vancouver police defend Chelsea Poorman investigation

• ‘A lot of unanswered questions’: Tragic end to search for Chelsea Poorman in Vancouver

In September 2020, a 24-year-old Indigenous woman, Chelsea Poorman, went missing and was found dead outside a vacant home in the Shaughnessy neighbourhood in April 2022.

This case garnered criticism for the Vancouver Police as her family and advocates said they were unsatisfied with the investigation and unhappy that police declared Chelsea’s death as ‘non-suspicious’.

However Cst. Tania Visintin, with the VPD defended the department from this criticism saying, “The Vancouver Police Department began investigating Chelsea’s disappearance the day she was reported missing, and didn’t stop looking for her until she was discovered.”

Vancouver police have said that due to the state of her remains, it would most likely be impossible to pinpoint exactly how she died.

Despite Indigenous people making up 4.3 per cent of the Canadian population, the Assembly of First Nations says Indigenous women make up 11 per cent of missing women in the country.

Anyone with information about O’Soup’s death is asked to contact the VPD at 604-717-2500.