Shalini Singh is intelligent, cheerful and kind, the type of person who is eager to help anyone who needs it, say her friends and family.
But Singh, 40, vanished in December. Those who love her are now searching for answers as Hamilton police’s homicide unit investigates.
“She’s not the sort of person who would abandon her family and just disappear,” her sister-in-law Sonia Singh said.
“This is very, very hard and very sad.”
Sonia was among dozens of people gathered at a vigil for Singh outside Burlington City Hall Friday to mark the two months that have passed since anyone heard from Singh.
Singh’s family passed out flyers, encouraging anyone with information to call police. They reported her missing Dec. 10 after not being able to reach her for six days, which police have said was “highly unusual” for her.
Investigators have seized hundreds of hours of CCTV footage from around her Hamilton apartment building to try to piece together what happened. They don’t believe she had access to a car when she went missing.
Singh’s common-law boyfriend is not cooperating with police, acting Det. Sgt. Daryl Reid previously told CBC Hamilton.
Police did not respond to a request for an update Friday.
‘An incredible person’
Singh was working as a mental health crisis worker in the Halton region for the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA), according to her LinkedIn.
She is also a board director of Suicide Prevention Community Council of Hamilton, a non-profit advocacy group, and volunteers in the community, Sonia said.
Singh also worked for Good Shepherd, providing crisis support and has a degree in social work from Toronto Metropolitan University.
Tamara Mason attended the vigil because she knew Singh professionally through working together at CMHA. Mason described her as “really exceptional” and “an incredible person.”
Kamal Sarin lives in St. Catharines, Ont., and has known Singh’s family for 45 years. She came to the vigil to show her support.
“What the family is going through we can’t even understand or imagine, honestly,” she told CBC Hamilton. “But we really hope that she comes back home and we hear some positive news and that’s what we pray for.”
Amanda Bobbitt, who’s been friends with Singh for over 20 years, was also at the vigil. She said the pair had reconnected over their shared interest in doing stand-up comedy in Hamilton — a community that’s also been impacted by Singh’s disappearance.
Bobbitt described Singh as “quirky” and as having an “exceptional sense of humour.”
“She is all around an amazing person,” Bobbitt said. “You want to keep hoping [she’s safe] but as time goes past, it’s getting harder to do.”
Singh is described as five feet four inches tall and 120 pounds. She has brown eyes and shoulder-length black hair.
Anyone with information about Singh’s whereabouts is asked to contact police or Crime Stoppers.
