‘We need to know what happened’: Loved ones of missing woman hoping for her return

It has been more than a month since Laura Huebner flew from Regina to Victoria.

It was only supposed to be a brief trip but instead, people close to the 45-year-old woman are left wondering what happened. Huebner hasn’t been seen since April 24.

Danika Wright is a close friend of Huebner’s and says they were making big plans together for when she returned.

“We were talking about working together,” Wright said. “We both still work in costumes and we talked about the possibility of working on a movie this summer and she was excited about the opportunity.

“She’s high energy, really motivated and driven. She is so passionate about fashion and all the things that go with it.”

Huebner caught a plane from Regina heading for Victoria on April 24, with plans to return to the Queen City less than a week later.

Wright says the trip was something her friend had been looking forward to.

“She told me she needed a break. First of all, there was COVID, she lost her mom and she’s been working all these jobs,” Wright said. “She just wanted to have some fun and just have a holiday.

“She definitely was planning to come back.”

Not long after arriving on the island, Huebner supposedly made her way to Nanaimo, where she planned to meet up with a man. She sent a picture to her dad before saying she was going to go on a sailboat.

That was the last contact Huebner had with anyone.

“She had messaged saying that she was meeting a man and that she was excited because he had a sailboat,” Wright said. “That’s all the details that I know.”

The Nanaimo RCMP confirmed it’s an active missing person case, adding there’s nothing to say at this time regarding  Huebner’s whereabouts, or anything else connected to the investigation of her disappearance.

“There have been no other confirmed sightings of her. As a result, her family is concerned for her safety and well-being,”  Nanaimo RCMP spokesperson Const. Gary O’Brien said.

“It continues to be an active missing person case. There are no updates.”

No details were provided on Huebner’s connection to the boat, or the man she had supposedly decided to meet with.

With every day Huebner is missing, Wright says the unknown weighs heavily on the shoulders of people who care about her.

“People need to know what happened. At this point, I think everyone’s really concerned,” Wright said. “It’s one thing to go away for a few days, it’s another thing to just disappear.

“It’s just such a lingering feeling. We need to know what happened.”