The stepfather of a 25-year-old Canadian woman who was found dead at a resort in the Philippines where she worked as a chef is expressing doubt about the official police conclusion that her death was a suicide.

Elisa Loyo Gutierrez of Thunder Bay, Ont., was found Friday hanging from an electric cable tied to the ceiling of the chef's office at the Fontana Leisure Park in northern Pampanga province, said police Chief Insp. Rene Aspe.

Two resort workers found the body when they traced a foul odour coming from the office, which hadn't been used in several months, Aspe told The Associated Press.

The family last spoke with Gutierrez during a phone call Dec. 19 in which she said she would be home in early January or May at the latest, despite having been hired to work at the resort until September.

"She was encountering lots of problems there" and sounded "a little sad" during the call, stepfather Dan Somerfield told The Canadian Press in an interview from the family home in Thunder Bay.

In October, threats were made against her life after Gutierrez exposed several employees who were stealing meat from the kitchen and were subsequently fired, Somerfield said.

"There were death threats made, so she wasn't terribly popular there."

Gutierrez's body had cuts on both of her wrists and two stab wounds on her neck, and appeared to have died several days prior to being found, said Aspe, the commander of the police station investigating the case.

There was no suicide note, he added.

Two bloodstained knives were found in the room, while several other kitchen knives were on the table, indicating she may have picked which ones to use, Aspe said.

Gutierrez may have tried to stab herself first, but opted for hanging instead when it proved too painful, he added.

Her family, however, is not convinced she killed herself.

"She was a very vibrant, wonderful, charismatic young lady -- full of life," Somerfield said.

"We want more information and certainly suicide is not possible .... It (would be) definitely outside her personality, and there was no history of this whatsoever."

Gutierrez moved to Canada from Mexico in 2001, and holds dual citizenship.

Somerfield spoke with Canadian officials in Ottawa, who told him Canada's ambassador to the Philippines met with the director of the police force and pressed for a full autopsy to be conducted in Manila and for a thorough investigation.

Consular officials also met with police and the doctor who performed a cursory examination of Gutierrez's body, Somerfield said.

Once the initial police report is finished, both Canada and Mexico will work to get the case referred to a higher police authority, similar to the RCMP in Canada, he added.

Hotel staff notified Gutierrez's parents on Dec. 24 that she had been not been seen since leaving for work the morning of the day before.

Somerfield said the family was told resort security was looking for her, a claim he said the family doubts since it took several more days for the body to turn up -- in her own office.

Gutierrez, a graduate of culinary management and hotel management from Confederation College in Thunder Bay, was originally from Saltillo, Coahuila, Mexico. Her two Mexican sisters have travelled to the Philippines to find out what happened, the family said.

Aspe said a security guard told police he last saw Gutierrez walking toward the chef's office alone on the morning of Dec. 23, an account borne out by a security camera video.

"All the people we interviewed in Fontana observed that a week before that incident, she had not been eating and sleeping, maybe because she was depressed," Aspe said.

"There was even one incident when a co-worker saw her sharpening a knife in the toilet before dawn."

Aspe said the investigation is continuing and more people will be questioned.

Senior Superintendent Nicanor Targa, chief of security at the former U.S.-run Clark Air Base where the resort is located, said in a telephone interview that his office's initial probe showed Gutierrez had some disagreement with a foreign co-worker before she was found dead.

But he could not immediately provide details, saying he did not have the case report on hand and the case has already been turned over to Aspe's station.

Aspe said no one among the resort workers they have so far interviewed has said anything about Gutierrez having a feud with a foreign co-worker.

With files from The Associated Press in Manila