In the search for Claire Bell, three years old, the Provincial Police of Quebec has located an important witness who, he said, spoke with his mother on Sunday, only a few hours before denouncing his missing son.
The child’s mother, Rachel-Ella Todd, was arrested on Monday and accused of child abandonment.
Sûreté du Québec (SQ) believes that a woman spoke with Claire’s mother on a farm in the Montérégie region, near the border of Ontario, at some point between 9:45 am and 3:30 pm on Sunday.
In a call to the public broadcast on Wednesday, the police said that the conversation between the mother and the witness was in English, and the witness carried a apron that had the French word “abandance” on the front. Police added that this witness can also know how to speak French.
“We want to know what the purpose of the meeting was,” said SQ Éloïse spokesman Cossette at that time.
Radio-Canada reports that the witness has been found and is meeting with researchers.
It is the last update in a search that is now on its third day, with the provincial police deploying a helicopter, ATV and about 150 police officers and volunteers trained to tour a large search area west of the island of Montreal.
On Wednesday, the provincial police teams are looking for large areas between Montreal and the Ontario border.
Claire measures three feet high, weighs 35 pounds and has brown eyes and brown hair. According to the police, he was last seen with gray pants and a long -sleeved shirt with pink around his neck and is probably barefoot.
He was last seen at his residence near Newman Avenue in Lasalle de Montreal County on Sunday morning around 9:45 am et. The SQ, the provincial police force of Quebec, says that Claire’s mother reported that she disappeared a few hours later in a store in Coteau-Du-Lac, about 50 kilometers west of Montreal.
It is expected that Todd, who turned 34 on the eve of Claire’s disappearance, will make his second appearance at the Salaberry-De-Valleyfield Palace on Wednesday.
A store employee said the woman drove her car to the parking lot and ran to the panic store. CBC News does not identify the employee because he is not authorized to speak on behalf of the store. The employee mentioned that the woman said she had lost her son and that she could not remember what happened. Another employee called 911.
On Wednesday morning, the SQ cossette said the researchers had received hundreds of tips for the case.
Search efforts have focused on areas near the crossroads 30 and 20, as well as areas near Highway 40, west of Montreal Island, an area that the police said it is difficult to access due to dense vegetation.
Do not try to find missing girl, the police tell Public
Police are discouraging citizens to carry out their own searches, since they could destroy clues and hinder the efforts of the SQ. On Wednesday, the SQ reiterated that the public can contribute to search efforts by looking for Ford Gray Force with registration K50 FVE that the mother used between 9:45 am and around 3:30 pm on Sunday.
“He left Lasalle and arrived in Coteau-Du-Lac, that is a very large area,” said Cossette.
“We are calling possible witnesses in case they saw that vehicle on an isolated road or if they have security cameras in front of their homes or businesses or in their vehicles … ultimately, we want to recreate the entire route that the mother followed with her daughter.”
According to Radio-Canada sources, Todd did not seem lucid and made confused comments that complicate the work of researchers. The sources also told Radio-Canada that an analysis of Todd’s telephone revealed the searches of funeral urns for children, as Montreal magazine reported for the first time on Tuesday.
A video posted by Todd in the hours before Claire’s disappearance on Tiktok. Radio-Canada has confirmed that the account belongs to it.
In the brief video, Todd is holding Claire and speaks in the camera saying: “You try again and this will get ugly.”
The legend says: “Have you faced a mother with nothing to lose ???”
While the search for Claire Bell, three years old, continues, the police accused her mother, Rachel Todd, of abandonment of children. The sources told Radio-Canada that Todd seemed confused when he spoke with the police and had recently looked for the funerals of the children on his phone.
CBC does not know the context in which the video was filmed. The Provincial Police of Quebec said they were not commenting on the video.
The position against Todd alleges who left his daughter and put his life and health in danger. If you are guilty, the maximum sentence is five years in prison.
On Monday night, the police announced that they had found a dead brown chihuahua around the 30 highway in the Vaudreuil-Dorion area.
The dog coincided with the description that was thought with the girl when she was last seen. Until Tuesday night, the police were still working to confirm that it is the same dog.
If you are affected by the details of this story, you can find mental health support Resources in its province or territory.
