Found Deceased Canada - Holly Ellsworth-Clark, 27, Hamilton ON, 11 Jan 2020

[jash]

To be fair, no one was really thinking she would be in the harbour. The initial focus was on the trails she loved so much. Even here on Websleuths, where we know so often the missing wind up in a body of water, it wasn't seriously discussed (I brought forward the below post that mentioned the possibility).

Hopefully the autopsy gives the family some answers. I wonder if any clothing was found.

"Walking northbound on Wentworth Street, approaching Shaw Street."

Looking at a map of this area, the easiest way out of town heading north, west from were she was last seen would be to walk down the train tracks toward West Harbor Go station were she would have access to train and buses.

Otherwise her only option would have been industries and water.

Another thought, I wondered if she left town and left her phone not to be tracked.

Hope she is safe, and that there will be peace of mind for her family, and friends.

 

[Tealgrove]

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/holly-ellseworth-clark-remains-found-1.5719209

Officers never did search the water while looking for Ellsworth-Clark.

"Searching the bay, that's a huge, huge area... There was nothing to indicate that at the time," Oleniuk explained.

"The water is well trafficked, not the clearest water and you need a starting point and the other thing is once a body hits the water, there's all kinds of factors at play whether they go down or rise to the surface or the currents and everything else."
​

I hate that this isn't surprising from Canadian local law enforcement. Maybe they don't have the budgets that we do in the US?

Why isn't this surprising to you? It's not that they didn't have the budget, Holly went missing in January in Canada. It was cold, a storm rolled in when she went missing. Sometimes the water closest to shore freezes. It's not just a Bay, it's Lake Ontario. Where Holly was found was in a Bay connected to Lake Ontario. Where do you even begin to search Lake Ontario for someone? Where did she go into the water?

In addition, Holly is an adult. She's allowed to walk away. Yes, it appeared that something was going on with Holly mentally but no one knew that for sure. LE did look for Holly. I saw them looking for her. I looked for her. How long do you keep LE looking for someone?

Information from friends and family indicated that she liked to hike. When the family arrived they didn't search the water either. They focused on the downtown area of Hamilton. In fact, some of the industrial areas that were searched were quite close to where Holly was eventually found. Even if they had searched the water in the early going, she probably wouldn't have been found due to the conditions.

If I recall a big storm rolled in the day Holly went missing. It was cold and it was windy and we got a ton of rain mixed with freezing rain. It was nasty. I had my sights set on Coots Paradise which is separated from Lake Ontario by a spit of land and a Highway that runs across it. There are walking trails that surround the water. I thought Holly may have been pulled to that area for it's serenity and hiking opportunities. A slip, a fall, and she could have landed in the water.

TBH, I think she headed for the water and due to the conditions, slipped and fell in. I don't think it was intentional on her part but maybe it was. We will never know. Unless something else is at play.

In the end, a terrible tragedy and the loss of a very talented and loved young woman.

MOO

 

[ShaunLindsay]

If you mean no one on here was seriously thinking the water then fine, but I can show you screen shots of conversations from May and June that show this outcome being one to consider. There was just no way for most of us to search there. Only time and luck ( if you can call it that) was going to assist with bay/harbour/lake being the answer.
If the situation had been considered criminal, there definitely would have been boats and divers in the water once the weather allowed, but that just didn’t happen for all of the reasons previously discussed.
There are still a few lingering reasons to suspect foul play. One would be the four minute phone call she made to the engineering company that day. While it is the smallest of threads at this point, I know one private investigator that feels the police should entertain speaking to them.
Otherwise, this is all just a terrible end.

To be fair, no one was really thinking she would be in the harbour. The initial focus was on the trails she loved so much. Even here on Websleuths, where we know so often the missing wind up in a body of water, it wasn't seriously discussed (I brought forward the below post that mentioned the possibility).

Hopefully the autopsy gives the family some answers. I wonder if any clothing was found.

 

[MachoFantastico]

Just read the news. Heartbroken for Holly's father, family and friends. Not the news I wanted to hear, hoped she would be found safe.

 

[K9Enzo]

Wouldn’t currents or tides have moved her? If she has been in the water that whole time and is still in the same area that seems weird to me. Maybe she was caught up in something under water and it broke free and she surfaced. So sad the water wasn’t searched from the start . Hope Holly’s family can find some peace now she has been found.

IMO only, bodies can be moved great distances by water or sometimes they surface not far from where they went in. Like you mentioned, bodies can also become tangled in debris (downed trees, branches, trash, etc.).

If I had to guess in this case and I apologize for the details - it's probable that the cold water temps kept her completely under water, this also slowed the decomp process because the lack of invertebrate access. The decomp process will still occur and when those gases are released, the body will rise to the surface. IMO

 

[evilwise]

She went missing in a disturbed state during a heavy rainstorm and no one thought she would end up in water? In Cleveland, they find people in the river before they get carried into the lake and invaluable forensic data is lost.

 

[Dre]

So heartbreaking! I too thought she was somewhat lost on her own accord and would show up in due time but not like this
If I were one of her loved ones I would think foul play too given some of the reports before she went missing.
With that said, I think they will conclude that she drowned naturally as she was in a very vulnerable state mentally. poor thing.
Feeling so bad for her loved ones right now, they were working so hard to find her and get her home safe

 

[MistyWaters]

So heartbreaking! I too thought she was somewhat lost on her own accord and would show up in due time but not like this
If I were one of her loved ones I would think foul play too given some of the reports before she went missing.
With that said, I think they will conclude that she drowned naturally as she was in a very vulnerable state mentally. poor thing.
Feeling so bad for her loved ones right now, they were working so hard to find her and get her home safe

Several unconfirmed sightings of Holly naturally led to high optimism she’d be found so I think I can understand, if I was in the same situation, why everyone held strong hope that Holly was still alive somewhere. Now the family and her closest friends need time and space to grieve, in coping with shock the discovery of her body. IMO everyone should respect that as opposed to jumping onto the drama bandwagon of blame, finger pointing or accusations of foul play.

Depending on the results of the autopsy that will be shared with only her family, what clothes she was wearing or other items that may’ve been found it with her it wouldn’t surprise me either if they they reach the conclusion she drowned naturally as well, as tragic as it may be. But whatever they conclude, I’d respect that because she was their girl. As time passes, judging only by what has been publicly shared, clearly her family and close friends have a whole lot of fond memories to cherish regarding the sunshine she brought into their lives, even if sadly she left too soon. JMO

 

[LadyL]

RIP Dear Holly. Condolences to her loved ones.

 

[jash]

If you mean no one on here was seriously thinking the water then fine, but I can show you screen shots of conversations from May and June that show this outcome being one to consider. There was just no way for most of us to search there. Only time and luck ( if you can call it that) was going to assist with bay/harbour/lake being the answer.
If the situation had been considered criminal, there definitely would have been boats and divers in the water once the weather allowed, but that just didn’t happen for all of the reasons previously discussed.
There are still a few lingering reasons to suspect foul play. One would be the four minute phone call she made to the engineering company that day. While it is the smallest of threads at this point, I know one private investigator that feels the police should entertain speaking to them.
Otherwise, this is all just a terrible end.

I'm not trying to take anything anyway from the valuable work you did. I'm just trying to say it's not like there was any evidence (at least made public) to suggest she had gone into water (and if there was I think police would have done what they could at the time). Obviously everyone was hoping she was alive somewhere, hence all the posters and pleas for her to contact family.

 

[jash]

There will be a vigil for Holly in Hamilton on Sept. 26th and her family will be attending from Calgary. It's obvious how much they loved Holly.

Family of Holly Ellsworth-Clark flying into Hamilton to host vigil Sept. 26

The family of Holly Ellsworth-Clark will fly into Hamilton later this month to mourn the loss of their late daughter.

A candlelight vigil is set for Sept. 26 in Woodlands Park just off Barton Street East. Family and friends from Calgary will attend the memorial service.​

 

[Timekeeper65]

Holly has been found deceased.

Remains of Holly Ellsworth-Clark found in Hamilton Harbour | Calgary Herald

 

[kelsie]

I really feel as though Holly was experiencing a mental breakdown and sadly ended her own life MOO. But I DO hope they thoroughly investigate to make sure that is the case and that nothing nefarious happened to this talented & beautiful young woman.

 

[ShaunLindsay]

I really feel as though Holly was experiencing a mental breakdown and sadly ended her own life MOO. But I DO hope they thoroughly investigate to make sure that is the case and that nothing nefarious happened to this talented & beautiful young woman.

On this point, the first time I walked the area with Elle (Holly's boss and search co-ordinator), she said that in neither of the journals was there even a hint of suicidal thoughts. None. She said from talking to people about that subject that it was very uncommon to not leave at least a nugget of a train of thought leading in that direction. Doesn't mean it was the case, but if there was one thing Elle felt sure of that day, it was that Holly did not kill herself. With Elle being one of only a few who will likely ever read those journals, I have to believe her.

If you were to compound her traveling on foot regularly with the all night running through the woods story, as well as her climbing through her window, and also climbing off the balcony to the fence and back up as was described to the family, and add the garbage bag covering and the potential climbing over/under fences in that last hour of video footage, it isn't unreasonable to think that she may have tried to jump onto a boat or a myriad of other things down by the water. A simple slip in that terrible weather on whatever mission she was on that day could be the saddest, simplest answer.

 

[kelsie]

When I suffered from suicidal thoughts, I did not put them in my journals in fear people would read them and have me committed somewhere. If Holly was experiencing paranoia, she could've been on the same train as me about that issue. And lots of people who commit suicide have so many people in their life who say, "Oh my gosh, they would NEVER do that," because they can't imagine it happening, and yet it does

 

[ShaunLindsay]

I hear you Kelsie, it is very true when someone passes from suicide that many people around them say "wow, I had no idea", so I agree on that, but to accept suicide is to stop looking for answers, and the questions should remain until at least the autopsy/toxicology reports come back.
In the CBC report, they focus on her honesty and openness about her life. She left it all out there, so it could be considered that if it wasn't out there (suicidal thoughts), then it wasn't there at all.
Even the house guests and roommates who she was apparently having these deep and serious moments and conversations with have never uttered a peep of her having that mindset. Troubled, off, not in her right mind, sad, distracted, but not once suicidal.


https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hami...bFj-akeDVcoQoYaa0FqNJW6NLsLd8khTrKqNTtybk06xE

"I am almost certain this is not a suicide ... Holly had said the morning prior that she really wanted to come home. She had plans [on her calendar], she didn't tidy things up before she left," Dave said.

"I don't understand the notion there's nothing suspicious when a person expresses to a number of other people before they go missing that they're very worried that two men are trying to kill them and that person ends up drowned. That's really weird — and to say that's not suspicious is even weirder."

Clark respects Hamilton's police officers but doesn't think they spent enough time looking into those claims, even though they did search a local motel called the Budget Inn and conducted a number of grid searches around the city. They also used the K9 unit, Ground Search and Rescue, the Criminal Investigative Division and their Patrol and Action unit.

"I think most of my songs that are really important to me come from feeling discomfort and being like, 'Shoot, I'm not being honest with something in my life,' " she said in an interview with The Underground Listener.

"My music is really emotionally driven and I'm trying to be as honest about my internal conflicts that I'm basing, I don't want to tell half the story. I want to tell the whole truth of what I'm feeling."

 

[ShaunLindsay]

There will be a vigil for Holly in Hamilton on Sept. 26th and her family will be attending from Calgary. It's obvious how much they loved Holly.

Family of Holly Ellsworth-Clark flying into Hamilton to host vigil Sept. 26

The family of Holly Ellsworth-Clark will fly into Hamilton later this month to mourn the loss of their late daughter.

A candlelight vigil is set for Sept. 26 in Woodlands Park just off Barton Street East. Family and friends from Calgary will attend the memorial service.​

I am honoured and humbled to have been asked to livestream this event, and will be doing so. Please join us all on that day.

 

[kelsie]

A beautiful life cut short:' Holly Ellsworth-Clark's family left with heartbreak and questions

Oleniuk added they also weren't ready to label her death as a suicide, but noted the coroner, who is waiting on toxicology repots, will ultimately determine how she died. That said, he doesn't think the report will reach a different conclusion.

Holly's father thinks that response is "outrageous" and "bizarre."

He says he was told her body had no signs of visible trauma, but is doubtful he'll ever know the truth since she was in the water for so long that dental records were what identified her remains.

Dave adds the recovery of her body does answer some of the theories about what happened to her.

"She hasn't been kidnapped so we don't have to worry about that, she's not roaming the streets of North America in a psychotic state, she may never have been psychotic. We don't know though whether she had an accident and drowned, whether she was killed and put in the water, we don't know any of those things really," he said.

But those answers aren't making the loss any easier to deal with, especially since Holly told her family she wanted to fly back home to Calgary and mentioned that she was chased and potentially being followed by two men. Those claims have never been confirmed.

 

[evilwise]

In my experiences of knowing people suffering from paranoid delusions, it's usually pretty obvious that they are. Through most of the 20th century, it was a legitimate possibility that a person might be suffering from "gaslighting" and someone close to them might be intentionally driving them crazy and orchestrating the evidence to appear innocent.

Now, however, we live in an age of cameras in our pockets, text messaging and cell phone data etc it would be almost impossible so those delusions have shifted from the gaslighting model to this thing called "gangstalking"

The Phenomenology of Group Stalking (‘Gang-Stalking’): A Content Analysis of Subjective Experiences

While gaslighting is really just a he-said she-said thing, gangstalking would require a disciplined organization making a coordinated effort to drive one person crazy. Paranoia about the government or organized crime is common with people suffering from delusions and the telltale signs of gangstalking thoughts are almost always instantly apparent to outside observers who might have been more willing twenty or thirty years ago to believe the mailman was coming into their friend's house or something like that.

Holly was truly impressive physically and I bet her running through woods, jumping through windows and all the things we don't know what she was doing would have been something to see but I'm sure @ShaunLindsay is correct, that in the heavy rain, in her efforts to escape imagined pursuers she just fell and could not recover.

 

[MissUnderstood]

Has it been stated if Holly was wearing the same clothes as the day she disappeared? Or would clothing wear away in water?