Police in Edmonton are investigating the death of a Montreal woman who an autopsy has determined was strangled.

Valerie Maurice, 29, was found dead inside an apartment in north Edmonton on Thursday when police responded to a "check on welfare" call.

Police say Maurice didn't live in the suite.

Spokeswoman Noreen Remtulla says Maurice frequented Edmonton.

Edmonton media reported that officers were at the apartment building on Saturday afternoon with guns drawn, but no one was arrested.

Maurice's friend Crystal Jones said she had gone to Edmonton for work. Jones had posted a photo of Maurice on social media, saying she had gone missing. 

Jones called the news "a nightmare."

"You love your friends and she's not there anymore. You can't tell her anymore that you love her," she said. 

She described a woman who hoped to find love and wanted kids but had been unlucky in her romantic life. 

"She was very nice, she had a big heart, but she was very discreet, she didn't talk a lot about her life," said Jones. "She needed a good guy but it never happened for her."

Police say they decided to release Maurice's name because it serves an investigative purpose.

Her death is Edmonton's 34th homicide of 2017.

Police are asking anyone with information about the case to contact them.

Montreal police also appealed for assistance through social media, urging anyone in the Montreal area with knowledge of Maurice or her activities to contact them.