Greater Sudbury Police say they can find no evidence to back up a story of a missing girl in the Minnow Lake area.
This afternoon, police report that officers from the Search and Rescue Unit and Tactical Unit completed the extensive ground search and K9 track of the area between Bancroft Drive and the rear of the Civic Memorial Cemetery, on the west side of Second Avenue.
Detectives from the Criminal Investigations Division conducted “numerous interviews and with the assistance of Uniform Patrol Officers, the neighborhood and surrounding area has been canvassed multiple times.”
Despite hours of searching and interviews, police say there’s just “no evidence … to corroborate the initial information that was provided to police.”
In the initial report to police, GSPS said the missing child was described as being age 9 with blonde hair in a ponytail. She even had a name, “Ella,” and was reportedly wearing a blue dress with butterflies on it.
However, a child matching that description has not been reported to police by a parent or guardian. No child matching the description was reported absent from local schools today either.
“We can confirm that a young child provided the information to an adult who contacted the Greater Sudbury Police Service,” police said. “Due to the nature of the complaint, we felt it necessary to deploy significant resources in order to conduct a thorough investigation.”
GSPS thanked the Ontario Provincial Police and the public for assisting in the search.
https://www.sudbury.com/police/police-investigating-unconfirmed-report-of-missing-child-937632
Despite social media rumours that a supposedly-missing child was never actually missing and was at home the whole time, Greater Sudbury Police say they’re still actively investigating the allegation.
Sudbury.com first came across the rumour on the Valley East Today page. A post claimed a missing six-year-old girl was actually at home the whole time. According to the rumour, a nine-year-old girl went home and told her parents the girl went missing from a splash pad in the neighbourhood.
Police were called and a search began to locate the missing girl’s parents, again according to the rumour. Once the parents were located, it was discovered the girl wasn’t missing, but was at home in bed the whole time.
Sudbury.com asked Staff Sgt. Bob Norman about the social media rumours earlier this morning.
“That’s news to me,” he said. “Of course I don’t need tell you the lack of credibility of social media information, right?”
Despite the rumour, Norman said police are operating as though the child is missing and actively attempting both to find her and confirm the girl whether she is actually missing.
“All I can tell you at this time is that we’re still actively investigating the allegation,” Norman said. Contacted before 8 a.m., Norman said police were planning further deployment of officers to the area.
Check back to Sudbury.com for updates on this story.
Original story:
Greater Sudbury Police say they’re investigating an unconfirmed report of a missing child out of “an abundance of caution.”
Many people said on social media they were stopped overnight by police on The Kingsway, who said they were looking for a six-year-old girl who had last been seen at a splash pad in Minnow Lake Monday evening.
In a press release sent out a 1:55 a.m. Tuesday morning, police say they canvassed people, conducted a K9 search, co-ordinated a ground search with the service’s search and rescue unit, conducted interviews and stopped motorists on the major arteries in and around The Kingsway to see if anyone had information that could help police corroborate this report.
This investigation is in its early stages and police cannot confirm that any child is in fact missing at this point, the press release said.
Police said they would continue to deploy specialists in the ground search overnight and would maintain police presence in the area.
“All I can tell you at this time is that we’re still actively investigating the allegation,” said Staff Sgt. Bob Norman, speaking to Sudbury.com at around 7:30 a.m. Tuesday morning.
“We’re having a briefing at 0800 hours, and there will be further deployment to the area, I assume, shortly thereafter.”
Anyone with information is asked to contact Greater Sudbury Police at 705-675-9171 or Crime Stoppers at 705-222-TIPS (8477) or www.sudburycrimestoppers.com.
Check back to Sudbury.com for updates to this story.
https://www.sudbury.com/police/police-investigating-unconfirmed-report-of-missing-child-937632
Greater Sudbury Police officers are looking for a possible missing child in the Second Avenue area.
In a posting to its Twitter account, police said they are checking into what investigators called “an unconfirmed report.”
However, “out of an abundance of caution we have deployed significant resources in the area of (Second Avenue) to help us corroborate this report. We are in the early stages and ask that if anyone has info to contact police.”
Police in Sudbury can be reached at 705-675-9171.
In a Facebook posting, a Sudbury resident said police officers stopped him and other drivers in the Second Avenue area on Monday night. He wrote they indicated they were looking for a nine-year-old girl named Ella.
The officers said Ella has short blonde hair and was wearing a blue dress with butterflies. She “was seen walking into the bush with a bearded man from a splash pad” possibly on Second Avenue.
“Keep an eye out folks and hoping hard she is safe.”
We are investigating an unconfirmed report of a missing child. Out of an abundance of caution we have deployed significant resources in the area of 2nd Av Sud to help us corroborate this report. We are in the early stages and ask that if anyone has info to contact police. ^dra
— Sudbury Police (@SudburyPolice) May 29, 2018
http://www.thesudburystar.com/2018/05/29/sudbury-police-checking-into-unconfirmed-missing-child-report
