Vancouver police say new testing suggests the woman may have spent her final days in the Seattle or Portland area.
VANCOUVER, CANADA — Vancouver police renewed a cross-border appeal Monday to identify an unknown woman found off Spanish Banks in 2022 after forensic pollen testing linked her clothing to the Seattle or Portland area.
The case has remained open for nearly four years because investigators have not matched the woman to a missing person report, DNA profile or fingerprint record. Police say the new pollen findings are the strongest lead so far in a case that began on the water and has now moved into the Pacific Northwest’s Interstate 5 corridor.
A tugboat crew found the woman at about 9 p.m. on Sept. 29, 2022, floating in the waters off Spanish Banks in English Bay. She was near an inflatable kayak and had a backpack, candy and insulin, but no identification. The crew took her to the Kitsilano Coast Guard station, where Vancouver police opened an investigation later transferred to the department’s Missing Persons Unit. Detective Rebecca Matson said investigators first expected a relative, friend or employer to report her missing, but that report never came.
Police believe the woman was in her 30s and of African descent. Other details released by investigators include short, curly hair, brown eyes, freckles and an abdominal scar. She was found near a blue inflatable kayak and an orange life jacket. Investigators searched across North America and through Interpol, but no missing person report matched her description. Authorities have not released her name because they do not know it, and they have said it remains possible she was never formally reported missing.
The latest break came after Vancouver police Sgt. Anton Schamberger learned that a U.S. Customs and Border Protection laboratory in Chicago could examine pollen and other environmental particles on clothing. Investigators sent the woman’s sweater and backpack for testing. A report returned in July 2025 found pollen grains and fern spores on the sweater that suggested recent exposure to an urban Pacific Northwest setting, plausibly Seattle or Portland. The report also found a near total absence of pollen and fern spores tied to the Vancouver area.
Police said the finding does not prove the woman lived in Seattle or Portland, but it does suggest she may have spent time in one of those areas shortly before she was found in English Bay. That has pushed investigators to seek help from U.S. agencies and communities. The Seattle Police Department and Portland Police Bureau are supporting the effort as Vancouver investigators bring the case to U.S. audiences. Police said the goal is to trigger a memory from someone who may have known the woman, seen her or noticed she disappeared.
Investigators also have said foul play is not suspected. Reporting from police and local outlets said an autopsy did not find drowning as the cause of death and showed signs consistent with severe anaphylaxis, a life-threatening allergic reaction. The presence of insulin among her belongings has been noted by investigators, though police have not said whether diabetes or any other medical condition caused or contributed to her death. The exact sequence of events that put her in the water remains unknown.
The case has drawn attention because of its unusual mix of maritime rescue, missing-person work and forensic environmental science. Vancouver police said they remain focused on identifying the woman and notifying her family. They also said the investigation reflects the department’s work on cases involving missing and unidentified BIPOC women, a group whose disappearances have long raised concern among families, advocates and police agencies in British Columbia and across the Pacific Northwest.
As part of the renewed appeal, Vancouver police released an updated video with the new forensic findings and an interview with the tugboat captain who found the woman. Investigators also planned outreach in Seattle, with support from police there and in Portland. The next step is public exposure in the areas suggested by the pollen testing, followed by review of any tips, missing-person records or personal memories that may connect the woman to a name.
The woman remains unidentified as of Tuesday. Vancouver police say the investigation is active, with the newest milestone being the cross-border appeal tied to the pollen report and U.S. outreach this week.
Author note: Last updated May 26, 2026.