Friends and family of Marilyn Bergeron, who was 24 years old when she disappeared under mysterious, and possibly violent circumstances in 2008, says provincial police need to take over the investigation from Quebec City police.
They also say since they upped the reward to $30,000 back in February, more than three dozen people called police with tips, and want the case to be treated as a possible criminal investigation.
Bergeron left her parents' Quebec City home to go for a walk on Feb. 17, 2008, and never returned. She was last spotted at a Café Depot in Lévis, and at an ATM machine in the Quebec City neighborhood of Loretteville.
Those close to her say she was highly agitated and afraid in the months leading up to her disappearance.
An old friend, Jonathan Gauthier, says two months before she disappeared, she broke down for several hours in his apartment, but wouldn't tell him what had happened.
"I asked her if she's been raped or something like that, I even spoke of murder," he said. "She said 'no, it's worse, you can't imagine what happened.'"
She had been living in Montreal at that time, and decided to head to Quebec City to stay with her parents, where her mother Andrée Béchard says Bergeron was afraid for her safety.
She was there for only a day before she disappeared.
The family's lawyer, Marc Bellemare, says just a few days after that, she was spotted by several people in Windsor, Ont.
"They looked to the picture and said 'I saw this lady'" said Bellemare. "A man told me she asked for his cell phone to call somewhere, but didn't have the phone number..."
Her family and friends say since the case involves multiple cities, the SQ or even the RCMP need to be called in.