Canada-wide warrant for woman missing from Coquitlam facility

Coquitlam RCMP are asking Tri-Cities residents to watch for a 43-year-old woman who failed to return to a Coquitlam facility this week and is now the subject of a Canada-wide warrant. The appeal went out over the weekend, and police say every sighting report helps.

Chelcey Hodder was last seen around 2:30 p.m. on Friday, October 23, in the area of ƛ̉éxətəm (Colony Farm) Regional Park, the expanse of fields, dyke trails and bird habitat along the Coquitlam River on the Coquitlam-Port Coquitlam boundary. Police say she did not return to her facility as required, and a warrant of committal has been issued for her.

What she looks like

Hodder is described as five foot two inches tall and about 90 pounds, with brownish-blonde hair and hazel eyes. She has a star tattoo on her right wrist. When she was last seen she was wearing black pants, black shoes, a black shirt and a black jacket.

Her slight build and dark clothing can be easy to miss on the wide, open dyke paths around Colony Farm, and police are asking anyone who walks, runs or cycles the area to think back over the past two days.

Do not approach - call police

Investigators are explicit about what to do if you see her: do not approach, and report the sighting immediately.

'Police are asking the public to keep an eye out for Chelcey Hodder and report any sightings to police immediately,' said Cpl. Brett Urano, a BC RCMP spokesperson, in a news release. 'Any information regarding her whereabouts could assist investigators in locating her safely.'

Sightings and information go to the Coquitlam RCMP non-emergency line at 604-945-1550.

The do-not-approach instruction is standard for warrants like this. Officers trained for these encounters handle the return safely, and an unexpected approach can frighten someone who may already be in distress - making the situation harder for everyone, including her.

Even details that feel small can move a search: a time, a stretch of trail, a direction of travel, or a yes-or-no on the clothing description. A sighting from Friday is still useful now, because it helps police map where she went next.

What a warrant of committal means

A warrant of committal is a court order directing that a person be taken into custody and returned to a designated facility. Because this warrant is Canada-wide, any police service in the country can act on it - not just the RCMP in Coquitlam.

Police did not name the facility Hodder left. Warrants of this kind are used when someone subject to a court-ordered placement - for example under the mental health or forensic systems - does not return as required. People under those orders can have privileges to leave a facility for set periods, on their own or accompanied. When they do not come back, the facility alerts police and the warrant is issued.

Once located, the person is taken into custody on the warrant and returned to the facility named in it. Police release a name, photo and description publicly when they need the community's eyes - which is what Coquitlam RCMP are asking for now.

In 2022, Castanet reported that a Chelcey Rayel Hodder, then 38, had been found not criminally responsible on account of a mental disorder in connection with a 2020 incident outside a Kamloops-area grocery store. Fraser Valley Today cited that court history in its coverage of the current warrant this week.

Where she was last seen

ƛ̉éxətəm (Colony Farm) Regional Park is a 260-hectare landscape of open meadows, hedgerows and dyke trails along both sides of the Coquitlam River, south of the Lougheed Highway, on the Coquitlam-Port Coquitlam boundary. It is one of the best birding sites in Metro Vancouver, with more than 200 bird species recorded, and it is busy on weekends with walkers, runners, cyclists and families. Its trails connect toward the Traboulay PoCo Trail and the Riverview lands to the east.

The park carries a newer official name alongside the familiar one. In July 2023 the Kwikwetlem First Nation and Metro Vancouver announced the name ƛ̉éxətəm, which translates as be invited - an invitation, in the nation's words, to join a healing journey. Most residents still say Colony Farm, a name left from the land's past as one of the most modern working farms in Canada. Both names appear in police appeals for the area, and both point to the same place.

Anyone who was in the park on Friday afternoon, or who uses the trail network regularly, is asked to think about whether they saw a woman matching Hodder's description. Our guide to Colony Farm Regional Park shows the trail layout if you are trying to place a sighting.

How to report

Call the Coquitlam RCMP non-emergency line at 604-945-1550 with any information about Hodder's whereabouts, however small. Police stress that even a time and a direction of travel can help narrow a search.

This story will be updated when police announce that Hodder has been located.