Port Alberni RCMP are expected to release new details Wednesday of their ongoing investigation into the disappearance of a 40-year-old woman two years ago.
Hundreds of volunteers came out to help in the initial search after Amber Manthorne went missing on July 7, 2022, and posters were placed in store windows across the city.
Initial search efforts were concentrated near Manthorne’s home in the Great Central Lake area just outside Port Alberni.
Manthorne, who was scheduled to be a maid of honour at a friend’s wedding later that summer, was orginally thought to be in the company of an ex-boyfriend but he was later located.
Three days after she was reported missing, Manthorne’s 2021 Jeep Compass was found in the Cassidy area, near Timberlands and Ninatti roads, more than 100 kilometres from where she lived.
Volunteers calling themselves “Amber’s Army” used dirt bikes and ATVs to search the area, without success.
Friend Kristie St. Claire, who helped in the search, described Manthorne as a “multi-faceted, talented woman” and said she ran a cleaning company, worked at a retail marine store and helped out at a photography business.
Six months after she went missing, St. Claire hung banners from highway overpasses near Port Alberni and Nanaimo, hoping to jog people’s memories.
The Facebook Page Finding Amber Manthorne, created in 2022, is still active, with about 12,400 members at facebook.com/groups/1407755686318181
Anyone with information about the case can contact Port Alberni RCMP at 250-723-2424.
