Police now treating Cape Breton woman's 2017 disappearance as a homicide

Police say they're now treating the disappearance of a Cape Breton woman six years ago as a homicide.

Retired postal worker Debbie Ann Hutchinson, 59, was last seen in surveillance video at several local businesses on April 15, 2017.

The following day, Hutchinson's 2005 white Kia Magentis was spotted on fire in a wooded area off Cossitt Heights Drive, not far from where she lived.

On Tuesday, police said they're now looking to speak with people who were driving in the area between the hours of 8 a.m. and 9 a.m. on the day the vehicle was found burning. 

Police had been investigating Hutchinson's disappearance as a missing person's case. They did not say why they now believe she was killed.

Police also released photos of vehicles that were filmed travelling in the Cossitt Heights area of Sydney around the same time as Hutchinson's vehicle. They're asking for the public's help to identify the drivers.

The vehicles include a black Ford Escape, a blue Ford Ranger and a green pick-up truck. The driver of a fourth vehicle — a white pick-up truck with blue stripes — has already come forward but it's unclear whether they had information related to the case. 

Hutchinson's car was outfitted with licence plate DSB 020 and sported three stickers, two on the rear windshield and one on the bottom right corner of the trunk. 

She was reported missing by her family 10 days after she was last seen. Her car had been found days earlier in a wooded area not far from her home in the Cossitt Heights neighbourhood by two people out for an ATV ride. 

Police later searched the area but found nothing of value.

Anyone with information about Hutchinson's case can contact police at 902-563-5151 or anonymously through Crime Stoppers.