Police have charged a male suspect, who remains at large, with second degree murder in the case of a London woman who went missing in February 2012.

Vanessa Anne Fotheringham was reported missing on February 21, 2012.

She was 24 years old when she went missing, and was last seen February 16, 2012.

Following a lengthy investigation police have charged 32-year-old Antonio Valentin Resendez Cortez with second degree murder.

To date, Fotheringham's body has not been recovered and Cortez remains at large.

Police believe the two were known to each other.

Anyone with information about this investigation is asked to call the London Police Service at 519-661-5670 or Crime Stoppers at 1-888-222-TIPS (8477).

London police released the following statement from Fotheringham's family:

“At this time, we, Vanessa’s family, would like to ask the media and public to please respect our preference to remain private as these charges unfold.  As you can imagine, this is a very difficult time for the family. This is a real tragedy for us and Vanessa is in our thoughts and prayers daily.”

"The definition of the word; tragedy to me is:  “when you are a parent of a victim, not only do you feel utterly helpless and abandoned by the world, you also know that very few people can understand , or even begin to believe, that life can be this painful. The destructive impact that we felt when reading articles that have been written about your child that went missing throughout the years did not help in this situation. The writings will always be there to read with the access to look at, and now you’ll have families and their innocent child(ren)  growing up having to live their life in pain. There is nothing I can think of that is quite as devastating as this is.”

"We greatly appreciate and thank the City of London Police Department for their work throughout this case and in bringing us to where we are today. And we also would like to thank family and friends for their comforting kind words and prayers. It will be that support and love we receive that will make us be survivors through all this.”