Found: Tanessha Brown

Elliot Lake women Tanessha Brown has been found

MARKHAM Ont. – York Regional Police confirmed to Global News Saturday the body discovered during their search for a missing Markham woman is in fact Taneesha Brown.

Search and Rescue officers found the body in a pond in the area of Edward Jeffries Road and Highway 48 during a ground search.

York Regional Police told Global News there weren’t any signs of trauma on her body and they believe she ended up in the pond because of her own actions. They are now assisting the coroner in the investigation.

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A young Elliot Lake woman whose father encouraged her to study Islam as an alternative to medication to treat her bipolar disorder and schizophrenia is missing.

Taneesha Brown's struggle with mental illness has caused her family concern on several occasions in recent years, but those who know and love the 25-year-old now fear for her life after she walked out into the cold from her aunt's Markham home Tuesday night.

"She told my sister she just wanted to go outside for fresh air and she just took off," Uriel Brown told a news conference Thursday of his daughter's disappearance.

The distraught father and Taneesha's brother, Kevin Mazerolle, pleaded for her to contact a family member and let them know she's OK.

Taneesha's relatives recalled her once taking off with no shoes on a winter night in Sudbury.

Uriel said he introduced his daughter to the teachings of Islam in hopes it would help her avoid taking medication.

But her bipolar disorder and paranoid schizophrenia only worsened.

York Regional Police Det. Mark Charlebois said Taneesha left her aunt's home on Castlemore Ave., near McCowan Rd. and Major Mackenzie Blvd., around 10:30 p.m.

The mercury dipped to about -13C Tuesday night, not including the wind chill factor.

It's believed she was wearing a traditional Muslim outfit consisting of a white, knee-length dashiki, white pants and a white hijab on her head. She's about 5-foot-5, 122 lbs. and was carrying a black purse.

Anyone with information is urged to call police at 1-866-876-5423, ext.7541, or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).