Stittsville woman’s body found, her dog by her side
Woman and loyal dog located in woods after massive search by police, volunteers
The four-day search for Nelliya Karbisheva, 82, came to an end on Thursday afternoon after her body was discovered in a wooded area, her loyal poodle still by her side.
On Thursday morning, Karbisheva’s daughter, Marina Ponomareva, had still been clinging to hope that her mother would be found alive. It wasn’t the first time Karbisheva, who was in the early stages of Alzheimer’s, had gone missing, Ponomareva said.
“In April she got lost and we looked for her for seven hours,” Ponomareva told the Citizen.
“She was in somebody’s house talking with them and enjoying company. She didn’t think to call us because of the dementia.”
The search for Karbisheva began on Sunday in Stittsville. She was last seen around 10:30 p.m. leaving the Queensway Carleton Hospital with her white poodle. Police began sweeping the area on foot as well as from above with the help of OPP drones. Residents in the area were asked to check their backyards and sheds for the missing woman.
Karbisheva’s body was found at the end of Stittsville Main Street in a wooded area. Her poodle was by her side and was rescued by the police search team.
Ponomareva had been moved to tears by the efforts of search volunteers earlier on Thursday.
“They are wonderful people, I am so grateful,” she said.
“Just thank you, thank you. Thank you everybody.”
Chelsea Dale, 23, one of the main organizers of the civilian search team created a Facebook page on Wednesday called “Help find Nelliya” which gained more than 500 followers within 24 hours.
“A couple of days went by and I wasn’t seeing the ‘found’ post,” said Dale, who is from Stittsville, a full-time student and mother of two.
“I started talking with some people about the situation, that we wanted to help and no one had taken the initiative to start it,” so she did.
On Wednesday evening about 60 people volunteered to help with Karbeshiva’s search. Some volunteered to search the more heavily wooded areas.
“I figured she must be in a wooded area and you need manpower for that,” Dorian Brown, one of the volunteers, said in an earlier interview with the Citizen.
“I had two parents who had dementia — it touches me,” said Brown, who is from Stittsville.
Karbisheva, who was originally from Uzbekistan, moved to Canada in 2011. Although she could not speak English, she was very outgoing and loved talking to people and would use her body language to communicate, Ponomareva said.
“Neighbours love her,” Ponomareva said.
Karbisheva’s granddaughter Ekaterina Ponomareva told the Citizen that the family was very sad about the news of Karbisheva’s death.
“She loves the family and loves her grandchildren and she always wanted to be all together,” Ekaterina said.
“She liked being part of a big family.”