Toronto police announce a renewed appeal for information about the disappearance of Nicole Morin who went missing 40 years ago.
A $50,000 reward has been announced for information on the whereabouts of eight-year-old Nicole Morin, who disappeared from an Etobicoke apartment building 40 years ago.
Police announced the reward at a news conference on Wednesday outside the apartment building where Morin went missing on July 30, 1985.
“If you know something, anything that could help bring answers, we ask you to come forward,” Det.- Sgt. Steve Smith told reporters on Wednesday.
“This case is not closed, it has never been forgotten, and it only takes one piece of new information to make that difference.”
Investigators previously said that on the day she disappeared, Morin had made plans to meet a friend in the lobby of her building and go swimming.
According to police, at around 11 a.m. that day, she said goodbye to her mother and left the apartment. Morin was never seen again, police said.
Toronto police carried out an extensive search and investigation, which included the creation of a 20-member task force.
“Despite one of the most extensive searches in Toronto police history, Nicole remains missing,” Smith said.
The $50,000 reward will be valid for a period of one year, he noted.
Smith said the police force’s practices for investigating missing persons in Toronto has “evolved” since 1985.
“We have specialized investigators, stronger partnerships, and better tools, including the MCSC (Missing Children Society of Canada) rescu app, which now empowers the public to join digital search efforts, receive urgent messages, and help bring missing children home,” he said.
Speaking at the news conference on Wednesday, Crime Stoppers Chair Sean Sportun urged members of the public to come forward, noting that the “smallest detail can make the difference.”
“Today we stand together to ask the citizens of Toronto, especially those who lived in this building and community at the time, to take a moment to think back to that day. Ask yourself, did you see something, did you hear something, did you notice anything unusual in the days before or after Nicole went missing,” he said.
“Even if it seemed minor or meaningless at the time… That one piece of information could finally help answer the question we’ve all been asking for four decades. What happened to Nicole… The one undeniable truth in this decades-long mystery is this, someone, somewhere, knows something.”