The woman found dead in her Vancouver home on Tuesday of last week has been identified as Melanie Alexis O'Neill, a Simon Fraser University professor.
Around 10 p.m., police discovered O'Neill's body in her residence, one of three suites of a home in the 100block of West 13th Avenue.
A concerned acquaintance had asked police to check on her welfare after not having heard from her lately, said Vancouver police spokesman Const. Lindsey Houghton.
According to SFU's website, O'Neill was an associate professor in biophysical and biological chemistry at Simon Fraser University. She earned her PhD at Dalhousie University in 2001 and was a postdoctoral fellow at the California Institute of Technology from 2001 to 2004.
Jon Driver, academic vice-president and acting president at Simon Fraser University, told the Burnaby NOW last week that the news has hit the university community hard.
"We are shocked and saddened by the news," said Driver. "Whenever you lose a young colleague, the feeling is of complete and utter shock."
Driver said O'Neill was currently on study leave and, to the best of his knowledge, had not taught a class at the university since the fall of 2010.
Driver said the university is offering counselling services to anybody who needs or wants it.
"Our thoughts are with the family, and we want to offer our sympathy to her family," said Driver. "We are shocked that this happened."
Police would not confirm O'Neill lived at the residence, but a land title search listed her as the unit's registered owner.
Forensic investigators were at the scene Wednesday. O'Neill's body was removed at 12: 15 p.m. The homicide is Vancouver's ninth of 2011.
-Alfie Lau, Burnaby NOW, and Andrea Woo, The Vancouver Sun
