A Quebec coroner’s report says missing 13-year-old Maëlyne Lugez was most likely still alive when a ground search for her was suspended in Lévis in November 2024.
In his report dated Sept. 3, 2026, coroner Luc Malouin writes that the Service de police de la Ville de Lévis (SPVL) was solely responsible for the decision to suspend the ground search for Maëlyne less than 12 hours after she was reported missing.
Police were alerted to Maëlyne’s disappearance after she left her school around lunchtime on Nov. 6. The SPVL then conducted a ground search covering a 300-metre radius around the school, but the search was suspended at 9:15 p.m.
Maëlyne was found dead the following day, when searches resumed, in a wooded area 500 metres from the school. Her face was partially submerged in a stream.
In an initial report from 2025, coroner Sophie Réginière found Maëlyne died in an accidental drowning, most likely before she was even reported missing. At the time, Maëlyne’s father, Samuel Lugez, publicly questioned Réginière’s findings and told Radio-Canada that they didn’t properly account for his daughter’s challenges with mental health and suicidal thoughts at the time of her disappearance.
Quebec’s chief coroner ordered a public inquest into the 13-year-old’s death in November 2025.
Like Réginière, Malouin supports the theory that Maëlyne died from an accidental drowning after she ventured into the woods.
“I am convinced that Maëlyne simply wanted to find a quiet place to be alone,” Malouin writes.
He disputes Réginière’s conclusion that the teen was dead before she was even reported missing.
Malouin says the fact that Maëlyne suffered from hypothermia and that rigor mortis had not completely set in by the time she was found indicates she was most likely alive at least eight hours before her body was discovered.
Report identifies problems with search
Malouin stops short of concluding that Maëlyne would have survived if the ground search wasn’t suspended on the evening of Nov. 6.
However, he says that police had tunnel vision when making that decision, factoring in her suicidal ideation but not her age.
The coroner says that although de-escalating a search can sometimes allow a missing person to return, that thinking does not apply to teens under 15, in which case the search should only be intensified.
Malouin says that instead of suspending their ground search for Maëlyne in the evening, the SPVL could have reached out to provincial police or the association regrouping Quebec’s search and rescue volunteers, known as the AQBRS, for additional help.
Malouin recommended that the SPVL update its staff on proper ground search procedures. He also issued a recommendation to the Sûreté du Québec, saying it should raise awareness among other police forces about the services it offers, especially through its emergency measures division.
Teen ‘abandoned’ by police, says father
In an interview with Radio-Canada’s Première heure on Tuesday morning, Samuel Lugez said his daughter didn’t get the mental health support she needed before she died.
“Maëlyne was abandoned by the health care system and the Lévis police,” Lugez said in French.
He said he wasn’t surprised by the report’s conclusion that the SPVL didn’t handle the search efforts properly.
“Very early on, the day Maëlyne went missing, we asked for the use of police dogs, and it was denied. Some of my colleagues from work offered to help us with the search, and they were denied,” he said.
The president of the AQBRS, Guy Lapointe, echoed Lugez’s frustrations, saying the association should have been involved earlier.
Twenty-one of its search and rescue volunteers were available to take part in search efforts in the hours after Maëlyne was reported missing, but they weren’t called in by police until the next day.
“After the first hour, we should deploy the maximum amount of resources,” Lapointe told CBC News in French, adding that he believes earlier involvement from volunteers would have influenced Maëlyne’s chances of survival.
Although his daughter’s death may have been accidental, Lugez says he believes her state of mind that day and the unknown quantity of Midol — an over-the-counter medicine that provides relief for menstrual cramping — that was found in her system played a role.
“We think Maëlyne intended to end her life by taking those drugs, without knowing that wouldn’t happen. But in her mind, that was likely her goal,” he said.
Malouin notes in his report that he could not adequately prove if she took a dose large enough to be toxic or lethal.
In a news release published Tuesday morning, the SPVL said it welcomes the report and is taking its contents seriously, adding that it will not comment further pending its own analysis.
“Our thoughts remain with the family and close ones of Maëlyne Lugez,” it said, adding that it reaffirms its confidence in its officers.
Coroner Luc Malouin declined to be interviewed for this story.
Where to get help if you or someone you know is struggling:
Talk Suicide Canada: 1-833-456-4566 (phone) | 45645 (Text, 4 p.m. to midnight ET only)Kids Help Phone: 1-800-668-6868 (phone), live chat counselling at www.kidshelpphone.caCanadian Association for Suicide Prevention: Find a 24-hour crisis centreHope for Wellness Helpline: 1-855-242-3310 (phone, available in Cree, Ojibway and Inuktitut upon request)To learn how to talk to someone about suicide, consult this guide from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health.This guide from the Canadian Mental Health Association outlines the warning signs of suicide.
If you or someone you know is struggling with disordered eating, here’s where to get help: