Police have identified a missing woman as a dead Edmonton sex trade worker and have launched a homicide investigation.

Leanne Lori Benwell had last been seen on March 12 after visiting her mother and was reported missing in April.

Connie Benwell said she knew something was wrong because her daughter didn't come back to pick up some money.

The last time Connie saw her drug-addicted daughter, Leanne had a bruised and bloodied face.

"Some guy had beaten her up. She had a mark right across the bridge of her nose," Connie told CTV Edmonton.

Benwell's remains were found near Pigeon Lake, about 80 kilometres south of Edmonton, on June 21.

RCMP Cpl. Wayne Oakes said the force's Project Kare task force is helping with the investigation.

Project Kare is investigating the cases of sex trade workers who went missing or have been found dead in Alberta, and some of the cases date as far back as 1975.

Oakes noted that this isn't a Project Kare case at this point.

"There are no known links to any of the unsolved homicides or missing persons cases currently under investigation in the Greater Edmonton Area," he said.

However, the task force does have expertise in investigating cases of people who led a high-risk lifestyle similar to Benwell's, he said.

CTV Edmonton reported that while most of the Project Kare victims' bodies were found east of Edmonton, at least three have been found south of Alberta's capital city.

One man, Thomas Svekla, 39, has been in custody for more than a year. He has been charged with murder in the slayings of Rachel Quinney, 19, and Theresa Innes, 36.

Svekla is scheduled to go on trial in February.

Police have always said they believe more than one individual committed the homicides under investigation by Project Kare.

Kate Quinn of the Prostitution Action and Awareness Foundation said people shouldn't be lured into a false sense of security by one arrest.

"When a person is charged with one or two murders or like Pickton in Vancouver, people go, 'well, okay, we got the one bad person'," she said. "But the fact is that violence against street-involved women is a daily and nightly fact."

Police are appealing for information about Benwell's final days.

With a report from CTV Edmonton's David Ewasuk and files from The Canadian Press