The family of a missing Surrey woman is pleading for the public's assistance in tracking her down.

Darlene Battistolo, 44, has not been seen or heard from since June 22.

The last contact she made was with a text message she sent to her daughter, Melissa, saying she was driving to Oliver to visit her mother.

Battistolo never arrived in Oliver, however. Records of tower hits – when a cell phone is recognized by a tower – show the call was made in Lillooet at the time of the text.

The last tower hit was registered in Cranbrook on June 30.

Battistolo, who is suffering from MS, has not used her bank account since leaving her home in the Cedar Hills area of Surrey, police say.

She was driving a black 1993 Honda Civic. The licence plate number is 932 FLH. The car has not been located.

"We are concerned," said Diana Bolley, Darlene's older sister, during a press conference in Surrey Tuesday afternoon.

"Her health is not good in this hot weather. And we have heard nothing from her."

Battistolo's family say she had recently ended a five-year relationship with a common-law boyfriend and had been looking for a new place to live.

But they don't think this was a factor in her disappearance.

"This is unlike her," Bolley said. "This isn't something she's done in the past."

While she texted her daughter to say she was heading to Oliver, Battistolo told her mother she was going camping with an old friend in Squamish.

"I feel like she's deliberately trying to throw us off her whereabouts, and I don't know why," said her daughter, fighting back tears.

Battistolo had worked for Yellow Pages but was out of work for the past two years, family say.

Her severance pay had recently run out and she was receiving no other financial assistance.

"I think it did play a factor in how she was feeling," Bolley said, adding she didn't believe her sister was suffering from depression.

Her daughter is begging her mother simply to make contact.

"Please just call me, or text message me, or e-mail me, or send me a letter," she said. "I just want to know that you're safe and that you're okay."

Battistolo is described as Caucasian, with long brown hair and hazel eyes. She is 5'3'' and approximately 110 lbs.

Anyone with information about her is asked to contact Surrey RCMP at 604-599-0502.

rstarr@blackpress.ca