A Quebec coroner\u2019s report says missing 13-year-old Ma\u00eblyne Lugez was most likely still alive when a ground search for her was suspended in L\u00e9vis in November 2024.<\/p>\n
In his report dated Sept. 3, 2026, coroner Luc Malouin writes that the Service de police de la Ville de L\u00e9vis (SPVL) was solely responsible for the decision to suspend the ground search for Ma\u00eblyne less than 12 hours after she was reported missing.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Police were alerted to Ma\u00eblyne’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.<\/p>\n
Ma\u00eblyne 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.<\/p>\n
In an initial report from 2025, coroner Sophie R\u00e9gini\u00e8re found Ma\u00eblyne died in an accidental drowning, most likely before she was even reported missing. At the time, Ma\u00eblyne’s father, Samuel Lugez, publicly questioned R\u00e9gini\u00e8re\u2019s findings and told Radio-Canada that they didn\u2019t properly account for his daughter\u2019s challenges with mental health and suicidal thoughts at the time of her disappearance.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Quebec\u2019s chief coroner ordered a public inquest into the 13-year-old\u2019s death in November 2025.<\/p>\n
Like R\u00e9gini\u00e8re, Malouin supports the theory that Ma\u00eblyne died from an accidental drowning after she ventured into the woods.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am convinced that Ma\u00eblyne simply wanted to find a quiet place to be alone,\u201d Malouin writes.<\/p>\n
He disputes R\u00e9gini\u00e8re\u2019s conclusion that the teen was dead before she was even reported missing.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Malouin says the fact that Ma\u00eblyne 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.<\/p>\n
Report identifies problems with search<\/p>\n
Malouin stops short of concluding that Ma\u00eblyne would have survived if the ground search wasn\u2019t suspended on the evening of Nov. 6.<\/p>\n
However, he says that police had tunnel vision when making that decision, factoring in her suicidal ideation but not her age.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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. <\/p>\n
Malouin says that instead of suspending their ground search for Ma\u00eblyne 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.<\/p>\n
Malouin recommended that the SPVL update its staff on proper ground search procedures. He also issued a recommendation to the S\u00fbret\u00e9 du Qu\u00e9bec, saying it should raise awareness among other police forces about the services it offers, especially through its emergency measures division.<\/p>\n
Teen ‘abandoned’ by police, says father<\/p>\n
In an interview with Radio-Canada\u2019s Premi\u00e8re heure on Tuesday morning, Samuel Lugez said his daughter didn\u2019t get the mental health support she needed before she died.<\/p>\n
“Ma\u00eblyne was abandoned by the health care system and the L\u00e9vis police,” Lugez said in French.<\/p>\n
He said he wasn\u2019t surprised by the report\u2019s conclusion that the SPVL didn\u2019t handle the search efforts properly.<\/p>\n
“Very early on, the day Ma\u00eblyne 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.<\/p>\n
The president of the AQBRS, Guy Lapointe, echoed Lugez’s frustrations, saying the association should have been involved earlier.<\/p>\n
Twenty-one of its search and rescue volunteers were available to take part in search efforts in the hours after Ma\u00eblyne was reported missing, but they weren’t called in by police until the next day. <\/p>\n
“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 Ma\u00eblyne’s chances of survival.<\/p>\n
Although his daughter\u2019s death may have been accidental, Lugez says he believes her state of mind that day and the unknown quantity of Midol \u2014 an over-the-counter medicine that provides relief for menstrual cramping \u2014 that was found in her system played a role.<\/p>\n
“We think Ma\u00eblyne 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.<\/p>\n
Malouin notes in his report that he could not adequately prove if she took a dose large enough to be toxic or lethal.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
“Our thoughts remain with the family and close ones of Ma\u00eblyne Lugez,” it said, adding that it reaffirms its confidence in its officers.<\/p>\n
Coroner Luc Malouin declined to be interviewed for this story.<\/p>\n
Where to get help if you or someone you know is struggling:<\/p>\n
Talk Suicide Canada<\/a>: 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:\u00a0Find a 24-hour crisis centre<\/a>Hope for Wellness Helpline<\/a>: 1-855-242-3310 (phone, available in Cree, Ojibway and Inuktitut upon request)To learn how to talk to someone about suicide, consult this\u00a0guide<\/a>\u00a0from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health.This\u00a0guide<\/a>\u00a0from the Canadian Mental Health Association\u00a0outlines the warning signs of suicide.<\/p>\n If you or someone you know is struggling with disordered eating, here’s where to get help:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Quebec coroner\u2019s report says missing 13-year-old Ma\u00eblyne Lugez was most likely still alive when a ground search…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":897042,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[49,48,295,66],"class_list":["post-897041","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-environment","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/897041","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=897041"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/897041\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/897042"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=897041"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=897041"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=897041"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}