Two people have been arrested by Essex County OPP after the vehicle belonging to a missing 26-year-old Halifax woman was found in Harrow, Ont. on Tuesday.
The case of Loretta Saunders, who is also pregnant, is being treated as suspicious and the RCMP Integrated Major Crime Unit has taken over the investigation.
She was reported missing on Monday by her family and had last been seen at her apartment in the Cowie Hill Road area in Halifax, NS last Thursday morning.
She had contact with a friend on social media on Friday afternoon, but hasn't been in touch since. She also did not indicate she would be leaving town.
Originally from Newfoundland and Labrador, Loretta has been a student at Saint Mary's University for the past three years and is an aspiring lawyer. She recently completed a thesis on murdered and missing women.
Victoria Henneberry, 28, and Blake Leggette, 25, were arrested by OPP and charged with possession of stolen property.
Both are known to police in Halifax and Calgary. They appeared in a Windsor court on Wednesday.
Halifax Regional Police Const. Pierre Bourdages says “The two individuals arrested were previously residing in Halifax...The woman had a warrant for failing to appear here in Halifax, while the man had a warrant for an arrest in Calgary.”
CTV News has confirmed that the names of the people arrested match the names of a man and woman to whom Loretta had just rented her apartment in January. Her boyfriend says she was on her way to the apartment to collect overdue rent money when he last saw her.
Anyone who may have seen Loretta or her car, a blue Toyota Celica with Newfoundland and Labrador plate HCP 543, is asked to contact police or Crime Stoppers.
Loretta is described as an Inuk woman, 5'7" tall, 120 pounds with straight, light brown hair.
Family says lack of contact very unusual
Her brother Edmund Saunders tells CTV News that Loretta normally speaks with their father daily.
"It's not normal for my sister not to talk to me dad every day. That's his princess...She don't go a day without calling him. She wouldn't hurt him like that."
He added that her boyfriend received a strange text message from her phone number a few days ago.
“She told him that she had locked herself out of online banking and that she couldn’t remember my mother’s maiden name to unlock it,” he said. “You know, I really find that hard to believe.”
Loretta has been with her boyfriend for over two years and Edmund says his sister was excited about her pregnancy.
With files from CTV Atlantic.