A 3-year-old Montreal girl who was reported missing since Sunday has been found alive, police said.
Quebec police started searching for Claire Bell on Sunday afternoon, after her mother, Rachel-Ella Todd, allegedly entered a store west of Montreal, telling the staff she had lost her daughter and couldn’t find her.
Todd was later charged with unlawful abandonment of a child.
Ontario provincial police found the child on June 18 using drone surveillance on Highway 417 near St. Albert, Ontario. She was found alone, Quebec Sgt. Éloïse Cossette said.
Cossette said the girl spoke to officers and was given food and water and treated by paramedics before being taken to hospital.
“The priority is just to make sure she is okay,” she told reporters about 30 minutes after the toddler was located.
“We’re happy that she’s alive. It’s the best scenario possible. We were today feeling that we were advancing, and we had some leads, new leads, and so that’s the best scenario possible.”
Police said that more than 250 people were involved in the search for the toddler.
“This search proves that when a child goes missing, there are no interprovincial boundaries. There is only one goal: to find them,” Acting Staff Sgt. Sean Cameron of the Ontario Provincial Police said during a June 18 news conference.
He said that given Claire’s age, “every hour mattered.”
“I can tell you that the officers would not have located the little girl without critical information from the public. It helped us focus our search efforts and redirect our resources.”
He said several police detachments were involved in the search, as well as canine, forensic, and emergency response teams.
Police said they could not give out further details as the investigation was ongoing.
The toddler was last seen around 9:45 a.m. on June 15 on Newman Boulevard in Montreal’s LaSalle neighbourhood. She was reported missing around 3:30 p.m. in Coteau-du-Lac, Quebec, that same day.
Following several days of searching, Quebec police said they established the girl and her mother had been spotted in the St. Albert area around 2 p.m. the day the girl was reported missing.
Police searched several locations in the Montérégie region, including the Coteau-du-Lac area and near Highway 30 in Vaudreuil-Dorio, Quebec. A dog that may have belonged to the girl was found in that area on Monday.
