A man is wanted on a Canada-wide warrant after the slaying of an Ottawa woman who neighbours say was his adopted mother.

An arrest warrant on a charge of first-degree murder against Aaron Howard, 19, was issued on Saturday morning after a woman was found dead in a west end home at about 4:20 Friday afternoon, an Ottawa police news release said.

Aaron Howard, 19, was last seen on Thursday night carrying a black-and-red suitcase, police said.
(Ottawa Police Service)

The slaying is the city's fourth homicide of the year.

Police describe Howard as black, five feet 10 inches to five feet 11 inches in height, with a medium, athletic build and long, dreadlocked hair. He was last seen in Ottawa on Thursday night carrying a black-and-red suitcase, the release said.

As of Monday morning, police had not released the identity of the victim, whose body was sent to Toronto for an autopsy.

However, the phone at the two-bedroom bungalow where the body was found is registered to Deborah Frankel-Howard.

Maria Borczki, who lives near the home just off Baseline Road, said a teenager had lived there with his adopted mother for a couple of years.

"I didn't see the lady too much," she told CBC Sunday. "The son who's cutting the grass or raking the leaves … I never spoke with him. But somebody said that he's a very polite boy."