The parents of a missing Carleton University student are pleading for the public's help to find their daughter.
Nadia Kajouji, 18, has not been seen since March 9 when she returned to Ottawa after spending reading week with her family in Brampton, Ont.
"I love her. Her friends love her. Her family loves her. Everybody's worried and thinks about her. We just want her back home," her mother, Deborah Chevalier, told CTV Ottawa.
Her parents have travelled to Ottawa, trying to assist police in the search and they spoke to CTV Ottawa Friday. They're hoping media attention may help them track down Nadia.
"Something really bad happened," her father, Mohamad Kajouji, said before breaking down in tears. He said he hasn't been able to stop crying since his daughter's disappearance, which he said was uncharacteristic.
"It's tough not knowing," Chevalier added.
She said that Nadia seemed to be depressed lately and had an argument with a friend Sunday, the same day she went missing.
Ottawa police say foul play is not suspected at this time.
"There's no exact place to search . . . she just hasn't returned home," Const. Alain Boucher of the Ottawa Police Service told CTV.ca.
Nadia's mother says they fear something horrible has happened, but they won't give up.
"We've got to keep going. As long as there's no word, there's hope, right," Chevalier said.
Her mother hopes that Nadia might have gone to stay with a friend in order to "cool off." She pleaded with her daughter to come home.
Nadia's grandmother in Brampton, Menna Chevalier, spoke to CTV.ca Friday morning and said she "was in terrible shape and couldn't sleep."
She said she wanted to get her granddaughter's face in the media, in hopes that someone in the public might recognize her.
She described Nadia as an ambitious, happy-go-lucky student and said she had "never, never" disappeared or taken off without telling her family before.
"Something terrible had to have happened," Menna Chevalier said in a strained voice.
Nadia returned to Brampton last week for spring break but "wasn't well," according to her grandmother. She spoke to her granddaughter over the phone and said Nadia promised to "come home for Easter."
Nadia, a first-year public affairs and policy management student, was last seen by someone in her dormitory at Carleton University Sunday.
Boucher said that there has been no communications from Nadia and police have no indications where she could have gone. He said that police did not believe she had any access to a vehicle.
Her aunt, Candita Martens-Mills has created a Facebook page to help look for her. The group already has over a 200 members.
Martens-Mills said that she has been in contact with some of Nadia's friends and they had told her that many of Nadia's belongings, including her cell phone, wallet and identification, were still in her dorm room.
"This is completely out of character -- it's not her," Marten-Mills told CTV.ca.
Nadia is described as being of a Mediterranean complexion with dark skin at 5'8, and 130 pounds. She has hazel eyes and shoulder-length brown hair with blonde streaks and has eyebrow and tongue rings.
Anyone with any information about Kajouji is asked to contact Ottawa police at 613-236-1222, ext. 3726.
